(Bloomberg) -- SpaceX has walked out on its long-coveted land deal with Texas that would have been used to expand the company’s Starship rocket operations, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg.
The land SpaceX sought was about 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park — an area inside the same park it partially set ablaze by accident during the 2023 debut launch of Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket.
The deal, which SpaceX has pushed for since 2019, was a hotly contested part of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s grander vision to transform the region. Although the company didn’t provide specifics, SpaceX had said it wanted the land to expand its operational footprint around its launch facilities at Boca Chica. Its goal is, eventually, to stage multiple flights of Starship in a single day.
The reason the company walked away from the swap and what, precisely, the land would have been used for wasn’t immediately clear. SpaceX, which is intensely private about company operations, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a Sept. 26 letter seen by Bloomberg News, SpaceX Vice President Sheila McCorkle told the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that the company “is no longer interested in pursuing the specific arrangement.”
In exchange for SpaceX getting the 43 acres, the company would have given the state some 477 acres of its land near Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, around 10 miles away. The land could have given Texans access for hiking, camping and other recreational purposes, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission said. In March, the commission approved the deal.
Environmental activists worry their fight’s not over with SpaceX and Musk, who has achieved newfound political power through his close ties to President-elect Donald Trump.
“We’re concerned that he has something bigger and more disruptive to the beach and to the wildlife in mind,” Bekah Hinojosa, a representative from the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, an advocacy group, said in an interview.
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SpaceX’s rapid growth in the southeastern tip of Texas has strained tensions between residents and groups who oppose the company’s rocket launches, and local officials who see them bringing economic opportunity and national recognition.
Starbase, as SpaceX refers to it, serves as the main production and testing site for the Starship moon and Mars rocket. SpaceX’s operations in the area have created more than 3,000 jobs, according to a 2024 economic impact release. SpaceX has separately been working on a $100 million expansion of its facilities in Brownsville, which includes a new office space and a 1 million square foot industrial factory.
In April, after the commission voted in favor of the land deal, a coalition of local organizations sued the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, claiming the exchange was unlawful because the agency failed to research alternatives to trading public land.
Residents had publicly spoken out against the deal, arguing the land was sacred to the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe and that it’s an important recreational site for the surrounding communities. Separately, environmental groups have sounded the alarm over SpaceX’s operations.
As SpaceX walks away from the deal, Hinojosa said she’s worried the company could use the 477 acres as future leverage.
“We want more land that’s saved for habitat, but not in a way that’s a private space corporation using it as a bargaining chip,” Hinojosa said.
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