"The ruling clears a path for a land swap deal that would expand Elon Musk’s Starbase launch site in South Texas."
"A federal judge on Monday cleared the way for a land exchange that would allow SpaceX, the rocket and satellite maker run by Elon Musk, to expand its launching and production site into a federal wildlife refuge in Texas.
The judge, Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, declined a request from conservation and tribal groups for a preliminary injunction to block the land exchange.
The decision was a win for SpaceX, which wants to scale up its Starbase site in South Texas. It came as the Trump administration considers another contentious proposal to trade a parcel of land in Yosemite National Park in California to a private developer.
Under the proposed land swap with SpaceX, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would give the company about 715 acres that are currently part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, according to an environmental assessment issued in May."
Maxine Joselow reports for the New York Times September 21, 2026.
