A federal judge on Monday refused to block the Trump administration from moving forward with a land swap that would give SpaceX more than 700 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in southern Texas. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. denied a preliminary injunction sought by the Center for Biological Diversity and other opponents including tribal groups, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to prove it would worsen ecological risks to a Gulf coast region already transformed by billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket operations.

The land swap, approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in June, would see SpaceX surrender 683 acres it owns in exchange for more than 700 acres of federal land in the 103,000-acre refuge, which spans four counties along the Texas border. The 103,000-acre refuge is home to animal habitats and historical landmarks. The property SpaceX would acquire sits closer to the company’s launchpad near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The lawsuit asks the federal court to halt the exchange, which has worried SpaceX opponents in the area who have long criticized the company’s expanding footprint over lost access to beaches and concerns over exploding rockets.

In his ruling, Rodriguez wrote that the plaintiffs offered “relatively weak” evidence of environmental harm. “While they rightfully argue that the preservation of wildlife and historical lands furthers the public interest, they present no evidence demonstrating that the Property will suffer aesthetic, environmental, cultural, or historical degradation during the pendency of this lawsuit,” the judge wrote.

The judge also determined that a preliminary injunction would result in modifications to SpaceX’s development plans, “placing additional hardship on the company’s ability to meet milestones and contractual obligations.”

Laiken Jordahl, a spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the lawsuit alongside other opponents including tribal groups, said the litigation will continue despite the ruling. “This court order is not the final word. These lands hold incredible spiritual, historical and conservation value for the people and wildlife of South Texas. We won’t stop fighting to keep this irreplaceable public wildlife refuge safe from SpaceX bulldozers,” Jordahl said in a statement.

Jordahl called the swap a gift of public lands to SpaceX, “clearing the way for bulldozers to tear into this wildlife refuge as soon as next week and turn a public treasure into a private payday.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to a request for comment on the decision. Previously, a spokesperson had said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation. The agency’s final environmental assessment, issued in June, determined the exchange would cause no significant impact and would represent a “net conservation benefit” with “substantial long-term conservation value and improving landscape-scale habitat connectivity across refuges in south Texas.”

SpaceX did not return an email seeking comment on the judge’s ruling.

The company first broke ground in Texas more than a decade ago and has expanded rapidly, so much that SpaceX employees last year voted to incorporate their own local government called Starbase.