Texas voters are called upon to decide on Saturday on the billionaire Elon Musk to create a city around the industrial complex of its spacex spacex company in the south of the United States.
Just under 300 people, mostly SpaceX employees, will be able to vote until 7 p.m. (2 hours in Switzerland) to transform the Starbase complex, a 4 km2 coastal land located on the border with Mexico, in a city in its own right.
The majority of them have already voted in advance.
Elon Musk is on the list of voters, said Remi Garza, the Cameron County elections. He said the billionaire had not yet spoken on April 29, closing date of the early vote.
The creation of this city would be a success for Elon Musk, which has invested in the commission charged by Donald Trump to slar in public spending, but without fulfilling his objectives, and faces difficulties with his Tesla automotive business.
SpaceX installed its industrial complex in this coastal wetland, bordered by the Rio Grande River and natural areas, to carry out tests and rocket launches. The site has been operational since 2019.
Elon Musk’s project to make a city “will only cause more environmental destruction in the region,” denounces Bekah Hinojosa, co -founder of a local environment for the environment. “There will be more illegal discharges, they will increase their dangerous rocket operations and cause more seismic activity that will shake our homes, and destroy more natural habitats,” she anticipates.
It was Elon Musk himself, the richest man in the world according to the reference magazine Forbes, who had proposed the name of Starbase in a publication on social networks after a site visit four years ago.
The official request to make it a full -fledged city had been filed with local authorities in December 2024. SpaceX argued that it already manages infrastructure, including roads, and health or education services.
The company also promised that the creation of the city would not question its efforts to reduce its environmental impact.
Solicited by AFP, SpaceX did not follow up.
In 2024, the American environmental protection agency inflicted a fine on SpaceX for illegal spills in Texas rivers. The company was also accused of having damaged wild bird nests with its rockets.
“To compensate for this heinous crime, I will refrain from eating omelette for a week,” said Elon Musk in response on social networks.
