Elon Musk, who has been making Texas his business playground and home for many years, dreams of creating a utopian enclave on the outskirts of the rural state capital for his employees.
A new Musk project, Starbase, is now on the verge of success: an election scheduled for Saturday will officially transform a small area of South Texas’s coast — where his rocket company SpaceX is located — into a Starbase-style city.
Musk’s victory — which is likely because his employees are among the few residents who can vote — will be a win for the billionaire, whose popularity has declined since he became a chainsaw-wielding face of Donald Trump’s federal spending and job cuts and spent more than $20,000,000 in a failed attempt to tip Wisconsin Supreme Court election results. The profits at Musk’s Tesla car company are down.
According to county election records, as of Tuesday, almost 200 out of 283 eligible electors had already cast a ballot early. Musk is not on the list, as he voted in the county during the November elections.
The cosmic dateline may sound like a vanity project of a billionaire in an area that already has a lot of support for the man’s galactic dreams from local and state officials. There are growing concerns that Musk’s company and the city will have too much power over a popular camping and swimming area, known for decades as “poor people’s beach.”
The vote on Saturday to establish Starbase was seen as a foregone conclusion.
The proposed city near the border of Mexico is just 1.5 square miles. It’s crisscrossed with a few small roads, and sprinkled with modest midcentury houses and airstream trailers. The polling station is located in a building at Memes St. This is a playful nod to Musk’s social media company X.
Musk floated the concept of a Starbase City in 2021. SpaceX officials are not clear on why they want to create a company city and haven’t responded to requests for comment. A fight over beach access is a good example of some of the issues that could be at play.
SpaceX rocket launches, engine tests, and even moving certain equipment about the launch base require closing a local road and access to Boca Chica State Park or Boca Chica Beach.
The closure of Cameron County is currently dependent on collaboration. State lawmakers are considering two bills that would shift most of this responsibility to the new municipality. The company is also seeking permission from the Federal Aviation Administration for an increase in the number of launches per year from five to twenty-five.
Officials at SpaceX say that the bills will streamline operations and beach closures for a company with contracts from the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Defense to use its heavy rocket Starship. The goal is to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars.
Sheila McCorkle, Vice President of Starship Legal and Regulatory at SpaceX, wrote to Texas legislators: “This fully reusable system puts the U.S. in front of global competitors such as China, and it’s being developed here in South Texas.” She cited the $4 billion investment and the thousands of Texas jobs created by SpaceX.
McCorkle wrote: “We must continue our mission to turn South Texas into the Gateway to Mars, and make humankind multiplanetary.”
The hearing on beach access bills held this month drew only a few company executives and environmentalists, but hundreds of comments were made by both supporters and opponents.
The same statement was submitted by dozens of SpaceX employees, scientists, and engineers who live in the area: “It enhances coordination regarding beach access during spaceflight activity without increasing closures.” It is important for public safety as well as the continued growth of Texas’s space industry.
Other people praised SpaceX for its mission, jobs, and investment in the area.
Opponents countered by saying that the state was giving Musk and his firm too much control over an area that attracts tens or thousands of tourists every year.
Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. said that the county had been a good manager for beach closures, and there was no need to transfer the authority to a new city.
Trevino wrote in a letter sent to lawmakers that “SpaceX is an economic engine in our region of which we’re extremely proud.” “However, we believe that this legislation does not serve public interest and it has received an overwhelmingly negative reaction from our local communities,”
A second bill proposes to make it a Class B Misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in prison if someone does not comply with a beach evacuation order. This measure will only be implemented if the beach closure authority is transferred to the new municipality.
A state House committee this week rejected a measure that would have transferred the authority to close beaches for rocket launches away from the county government and into the newly formed city.
Bekah Hinojosa is the co-founder and leader of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. She has organized protests to oppose the vote on the city and the issue of beach access. The group is planning to hold a second protest on Saturday, even though it’s likely that the city will approve easily.
Hinojosa stated that her organization attempted to organize a walk-around at SpaceX to encourage voters not to vote for the city. She said that the company’s security guards escorted her group away.
Hinojosa stated, “We’ve been raising the alarm for years about Musk and SpaceX.” “Now that other people are starting to listen, it feels like we are finally being heard.”
