GRIMES COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — A local citizens' group has sued Grimes County over the release of public records connected to the SpaceX TeraFab project, setting up a legal fight over government transparency.
After the announcement that SpaceX TeraFab would be built in Grimes County, a local group — Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development — has been seeking information about the correspondence behind the move.
The group filed Freedom of Information requests, which led to SpaceX filing a lawsuit to protect information it wanted to keep private.
"We're not trying to stop the deal at all. We've never tried to stop the deal. We've only asked for more information about the deal," Marie Egyed of Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development said.
Bill Aleshire, the attorney for Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development, said the state ruled the records should be released.
"The attorney general ruled against him. And they said, except for some attorney-client privilege material from this, from Grimes County, that they had to turn the records over," Aleshire said.
The group filed its own lawsuit in an attempt to get the documents and increase transparency. Local neighbors have varying opinions on the lawsuit.
"Normally when somebody's hiding something from you, there's, there's a reason they're hiding it. And in this case, it kind of feels like that," local resident Shawn Pulkkinen said.
Rick Gremillion disagreed.
"It's a frivolous lawsuit. Nothing that they can discover in this lawsuit is going to change anything," Gremillion said.
As for the group, Egyed said they just want some answers.
"We would like to know what happened, who was involved, and what is coming, because our future plans depend. On having that information," Egyed said.
Neighbors have a difference of opinion.
"They have a right to maintain the privacy of their information because they're in a competitive business," Gremillion said.
"We, we just want transparency, make sure everything's on the up and up," Pulkkinen said.
I reached out to SpaceX for a comment but have not heard back. The lawsuit could go on for months, but I will be sure to update you if there's any movement in this case.
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