Vote Set to Make Musk’s Starbase an Official City After SpaceX Employees Push Petition
Vote Set to Make Musk’s Starbase an Official City After SpaceX Employees Push Petition
Elon Musk’s dream of turning Starbase into an official city is one step closer to becoming a reality. A Texas county approved holding an election to let its residents decide whether to create a new town called Starbase, built around SpaceX’s ongoing launch endeavors.
An election in Cameron County is set for May 3, and votes will be cast by residents living near SpaceX’s Starbase, according to the Associated Press. SpaceX founder and CEO Musk first pitched the idea of a Starbase city in 2021, and the company has been steadily setting up shop in the South Texas county since then.
A decision in Musk’s favor would further boost the billionaire’s ego, but it carries potential downsides. The decision to establish a flourishing company town, for example, could harm the area, with local environmental groups already voicing concerns regarding SpaceX’s activities.
In December 2024, more than 70 county residents submitted a petition to request an election regarding the decision to make Starbase its own municipality. Most of the residents, however, are SpaceX employees, according to the petition obtained by AP. “SpaceX HQ will now officially be in the city of Starbase, Texas,” Musk wrote on X as a form of premature celebration in response to the petition. Of course, a petition doesn’t guarantee that the decision will pass, but try telling that to a billionaire with influence.
A Cameron County judge reviewed the petition and found that it met the state’s requirement to hold a vote, according to AP. “If the election passes, this will be the newest town in Cameron County since Los Indios in 1995,” Judge Eddie Treviño said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing the outcome of this election.”
A report issued by Treviño’s office in June stated that more than 3,400 SpaceX employees and contractors have set up shop around the base in the past few years. Earlier last year, SpaceX also announced plans to open a $15 million shopping center and restaurant.
“To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community,” Kathryn Lueders, the general manager of Starbase, wrote in a letter to the county in 2024. “That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley.”
The request, however, may not sit well with local environmental groups who have long argued that SpaceX violates environmental regulations with its rocket launches. In July 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, and other conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging that it rushed SpaceX’s Starship permitting process without adequate environmental review or mitigation requirements. SpaceX is also facing fines of almost $150,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly illegally dumping pollutants into a Texas waterway without a permit.
The petition makes Starbase sound like a utopia for rockets, but the repercussions of SpaceX’s actions could turn it into a headache.