Cards Against Humanity sued SpaceX yesterday, alleging that Elon Musk’s firm illegally took over a plot of land on the US/Mexico border that the party-game company bought in 2017 in an attempt to stymie then-President Trump’s attempt to build a wall.
“As part of CAH’s 2017 holiday campaign, while Donald Trump was President, CAH created a supporter-funded campaign to take a stand against the building of a Border Wall,” said the lawsuit filed in Cameron County District Court in Texas. Cards Against Humanity says it received $15 donations from 150,000 people and used part of that money to buy “a plot of vacant land in Cameron County based upon CAH’s promise to ‘make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for Trump to build his wall.’”
Cards Against Humanity says it mowed the land “and maintained it in its natural state, marking the edge of the lot with a fence and a ‘No Trespassing’ sign.” But instead of Trump taking over the land, Cards Against Humanity says the parcel was “interfered with and invaded” by Musk’s space company. The lawsuit includes pictures that, according to Cards Against Humanity, show the land when it was first purchased and after SpaceX construction equipment and materials were placed on the land.
In the heavy construction industry you always make sure you have a local plot of land for idle equipment, material storage, office trailers, etc. before you start a project. You have to pay for that shit though and you generally have to leave it the way you found it or better. You can’t just park your equipment on someone else’s land and expect everything to be OK. Everyone performing any type of large project knows this. This lawsuit would have happened no matter who owned the land.
Expecting a company that blew up their own rocket pad and falsified EPA documents to think ahead is too much for them apparently.
in many cases large stockpiles have to be permitted. clearing and grubbing usually too. I don’t know the rules in texas but imo this seems illegal and like improperly inspected development
You’re right, but this is out in the middle of nowhere. I’m not surprised a megacorp would just dump their shit wherever. It’s probably cheaper paying the occasional fine or court case than going about it the legal way.