Starbase, Texas, has made an astute play to ensure its fiscal future for generations to come. They just completed their negotiating of a $1.5 million loan from SpaceX. This funding will help the small, southern city fund its operations through the end of September 2025. Starbase, created in May of this year, has rapidly turned into a center for most activities that SpaceX does. This latest development has fanned additional flames over the city’s transparency and its ongoing retaliation against oversight from federal regulatory agencies.
The recent collapse of a crane at SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch complex on June 23 has stirred up worries within the community. This case represents one of the first significant tests since Starbase cityhood. It will test the resolve of its public officials to maintain transparency in the face of intimidation from SpaceX executives. Jordan Buss is the senior director of environmental, health and safety at SpaceX. Starbase complicates things significantly because, along with the onerous federal obligations listed above, now he wears another hat—commissioner of Starbase.
On May 24, Starbase officials issued a particularly alarming warning to residents. This announcement is related to a new, recently proposed, “Mixed Use District.” This notice warned that they may “lose the right to continue using” their property if they do not comply with upcoming regulations. This message only increases the fear among residents that they will be denied their rights and that the new city will be run in a way beneficial to residents.
Access to Starbase’s public streets has become severely restricted. Buss clarified that outsiders will only be permitted in “if there’s a compelling reason to be in the city itself. Access codes will be made available to ambulances, firefighters and law enforcement as needed. The city is home to more than 200 SpaceX employees, creating even more of a corporate-local governance intertwining.
There are a number of hurdles to Starbase’s formal establishment. Still, it fits into a larger vision that Musk has shared since at least 2021, when he first suggested founding a city called Starbase. As it neared the opening date—from concept on paper to physical transformation of downtown—the project generated a mix of joy, confusion, and protest.
Commissioner Jenna Petrzelka, who previously worked at SpaceX for several years, brings an insider perspective to the city’s governance structure. Her ties to the private company should alarm all of us. It raises serious questions about the potential conflicts of interest and the broader governance transparency of Starbase.
Following the crane collapse, SpaceX officials made a brief post on social media platform X regarding a Starship rocket that blew up on a test stand. Beyond the immediate incident, it goes to the heart of continued safety, environmental and operational risks at the facility.