How Musk’s Starbase Could Become the Most Powerful City in Texas
“If these bills get passed, there’s nothing stopping other billionaires from creating their own company towns and owning more of Texas,” said Bekah Hinojosa, a local activist.
Before SpaceX landed to build its launch site for the world’s largest rocket, Boca Chica Beach was one of the few undeveloped areas along the Gulf of Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Residents could reach the beach after a 23-mile drive from Brownsville along State Highway 4. Surrounded by tidal flats and shallow wetlands, Boca Chica forms part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, contributing to a coastal ecosystem made up of federal and state parks and nature preserves.
Protected by a public access law since 1959, Boca Chica Beach has allowed visitors to experience the habitat as it has existed for millions of years. This area, home to endangered turtles and migratory birds, and culturally significant to the indigenous Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe, is where Elon Musk began building a rocket factory in 2014.
“The mouth of the Rio Grande, Boca Chica, is where our creation story starts,” said Juan Mancias, tribal chair of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. “Boca Chica was where the first woman was created.”
In May, Starbase was incorporated as a new city, made official by votes from SpaceX employees. Since then, Mancias has fielded several calls about his ancestors’ sacred land. The Carrizo/Comecrudo aren’t recognized federally, and they lack official tribal status in Texas, where no legal framework exists to recognize indigenous tribes.
“It’s the same attitude they took here 500 years ago when they came and started taking all the sources,” said Mancias. “And I don’t say resources, I’m talking about sources, because everything that’s there is a source of life for us, and that’s important to everybody.”
Since the rocket facility began its operations, residents and local activists, including the Carrizo/Comecrudo, have fought to preserve access to Boca Chica Beach, pushing back against SpaceX and Cameron County’s repeated shutdowns of Highway 4 during launch windows and equipment tests.
Soon, however, residents might be unable to mount as strong a fight for access to the public beach. As SpaceX employees assume roles as mayor and city commissioners for the new company town, several bills are progressing through the Texas Legislature that would grant new powers to Starbase. This would include the power to close the beach. “Musk is pushing a lot of his agenda through Congress, not just federal but also state,” said Mancias. “Right now, everybody is being bought into the snake oil that he’s selling.”
While not all legislation benefiting SpaceX has become law, the agenda will likely reappear until it is passed. Cameron County Democratic Party chair Jared Hockema said last month that he expects new versions to be refiled on their own or injected into other bills.
Measures being considered in the Texas Legislature to further empower SpaceX include creating new criminal charges for trespassing during public beach closures, which critics argue will effectively ban protests and may prohibit tribe members from freely accessing one of the most important sites in their history and culture.
“Let’s not call it a city. Let’s call it what it really is,” said Mancias. “It’s a plantation. Only the people who work for him will be allowed.” He sees a direct connection between the Trump administration, Musk’s role in its rise to power, and what he calls the cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious erasure of the native people of South Texas. “They come from a very barbaric colonizer mentality,” Mancias said, “and they’re accustomed to sacrificing people and having collateral damage to get whatever they want.”
Eric Glitzenstein, director of litigation for the Center for Biological Diversity, called on federal agencies to halt further SpaceX launches at Starbase, citing “incontrovertible, irrefutable” evidence that the company has violated environmental protection laws.
Glitzenstein described the relationship between SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration—the very agency tasked with regulating Starbase—as “unlawful,” describing it as “a cooperative situation” that involves “clear violations of the law” that are “on a scale that is shocking.”
The FAA has approved SpaceX’s request for 25 rocket launches a year from Boca Chica, a significant increase that residents and activists have protested because they create noise and seismic activity affecting areas miles away.
Bekah Hinojosa, a local environmental activist and cofounder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, views the incorporation of Starbase, the state legislation, and the federal relationship as a “golden opportunity” for Musk following his involvement with Trump’s campaign.
“It seems like it’s all by design,” said Hinojosa from Brownsville as she spent the day alerting her network to several bills passing out of Texas House committees to further empower Musk. “Right now, SpaceX lobbyists are pushing through dozens and dozens of bills that would allow SpaceX to get hold of a lot of power, and it’s really scary,” she said. Hinojosa said the bills related to beach access and creating new criminal charges have garnered the most public attention, but there are more. Some create powers for the city of Starbase to hold meetings that are usually public behind closed doors, while others ban the use of drone photography in the area.
“Now that Elon Musk has elevated himself to the White House, it’s become more visible that he has so much control over the Federal Aviation Administration,” said Hinojosa. “Starbase could become the most powerful city in Texas.”
The Border Chronicle requested comment from SpaceX about its plans for the newly incorporated city and concerns of local residents, but the company did not respond by publication time.
Hinojosa noted that local concerns have now expanded beyond environmental violations, as the community’s leverage with SpaceX deteriorates. “They’re near the border,” said Hinojosa. “There’s an anti-protest law, and I imagine they’ll increase their private security, as they’re potentially trying to criminalize people for going to the beach. I mean, those are all steps towards militarization.”
Hinojosa, who described her work as opposing the richest man on the planet, said that beach access may be out of the county’s hands and that Starbase’s status as a city may make support from Brownsville less relevant. Still, she sees the need for a significant shift in how she and other activists in the region oppose Musk.
“It’s going to take our community connecting with communities all over the world on this,” said Hinojosa. She said prime examples include residents in Hawaii speaking out about SpaceX debris and the UK government’s recent attempts to work with the U.S. on concerns over possible impacts to the Caribbean islands from SpaceX rocket launches out of Starbase.
In January one of SpaceX’s Starship rockets exploded in space over the Bahamas, leaving bright white and orange streaks across the night sky. Officials from the Turks and Caicos, a British Overseas Territory, said the islands were forced to ground flights and divert planes from the area as flaming debris fell from the sky.
Hinojosa said there is growing concern about the broader consequences of the state legislation being pushed by SpaceX lobbyists.
“If these bills get passed, there’s nothing stopping other billionaires from creating their own company towns and owning more of Texas,” said Hinojosa. More corporations could start taking their cues from Elon, she said, “and you’ll see more of these [company towns] as a way to get around regulation and workers’ rights.”
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Bills introduced by SpaceX in the Texas Legislature:
SB2188 gives Starbase the authority to close Boca Chica Beach for rocket facility activities, bypassing county approval.
HB4661 creates criminal offenses regarding beach closures for space flight activities.
HB3045 provides a franchise tax exemption for corporations operating a spaceport in Texas, potentially saving SpaceX millions in taxes.
Our Brownsville home is about 8 miles due west of Starbase. I can watch the launches from the end of my driveway. Even at that distance, the noise is impressive, and the ground shakes. The state historic site Port Isabel Lighthouse is half that distance, and they have had to set up monitoring equipment to measure the damage to the structure. They also have had to build a padded cradle to enclose the precious Fresnel lens during launches. And we the taxpayers get to fund it. What a good deal!
The grift is that it is "creating jobs" in the area. Really? What makes anyone think that Brownsville, Texas is a cradle for rocket scientists? The prime job holders are imported. But the local administration has its ego stroked by having the world's richest man setting up shop here. And one of the first things Elon did was give a million dollars to the local school district. Chump change to him, and a not-so-subtle bribe of the city.
The estuarine and beach area are key stopovers for migratory red knots, three species of plovers, and other endangered birds. None of which makes any difference to the launch schedulers. Save RGV is an outgrowth of the Sierra Club's opposition first to the liquefied natural gas development in the sensitive Bahia Grande ecosystem then to SpaceX's destruction of the Boca Chica environment.
The almighty dollar rules. Authoritarianism ignores native peoples rights and traditions, destroys sensitive environment without qualm, and is unhesitating in throwing cash around to make sure there is no effective opposition to their plans. It is NOT a partnership! It's a simple case of "Me boss, you not!"