Elon Musk wants to turn SpaceX’s Starbase site into a Texas city

SpaceX is embarking on a new mission to turn its Starbase site into a new Texas city.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s company sent a letter to local officials Thursday to incorporate what it calls Starbase, the South Texas hub where SpaceX builds and launches its giant Starship rockets. requested that elections be held. The company said residents of the area known as Starbase submitted the petition.

This area is located on Boca Chica Beach, at the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. Earlier this year, Musk announced that SpaceX and social media company X would move their headquarters from California to Texas.

“To continue to grow the workforce needed to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community. That’s why we are asking Cameron County to make Starbase the newest addition to Rio de Janeiro. “We are requesting that an election be held so that we can incorporate as a city in Grande Valley,” Starbase general manager Kathryn Lueders said in a letter to the county.

This isn’t the first time the idea of ​​turning a starbase into its own city has been floated. Musk proposed the idea in 2021 with a social media post that simply read, “Build a Starbase City, Texas.”

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., the county’s top elected official, said there had been talk of incorporating in 2021, but this is the first time a formal petition has been filed.

“Our legal and election authorities will review the petition to ensure it meets all legal requirements before we proceed,” Treviño said Thursday.

More than 3,400 full-time SpaceX employees and contractors work at the Starbase site, according to a local impact study released by Trevino earlier this year.

SpaceX’s rapid expansion in the region has sparked backlash from some local residents. Earlier this year, a group called Save RGV sued the company in July for environmental violations and allegedly dumping contaminated water into a nearby bay. In response, SpaceX said a state investigation found no environmental risks and called the lawsuit “frivolous.”

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