Trump administration weighing new South Texas land exchange with Elon Musk’s SpaceX – The Texas Tribune
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by Ayden Runnels, The Texas Tribune
December 23, 2025
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The Trump administration is weighing a deal with SpaceX that would give Elon Musk’s aerospace company 775 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, according to a New York Times report on Tuesday.
The reported deal would give SpaceX the land in Cameron County in exchange for 692 acres of land it owns elsewhere in the county, some of it 20 miles away from the refuge. The exchange would allow SpaceX to add to its rocket launch operation site, which critics have long warned may cause ecological damage and threats to nearby wildlife habitats.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a requests for comment about the reported land exchange. A spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday confirmed the potential deal and said the federal government was exploring an exchange that “advances long-term wildlife conservation and aligns with the administration’s goals of strengthening American innovation, infrastructure and economic competitiveness.”
It is unclear whether the deal would require SpaceX to take any steps to preserve wildlife in the land, according to the Times. Two endangered wild cats, the ocelot and jaguarundi, are located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Refuge, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
SpaceX had previously agreed to a land swap with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in 2024, but later pulled out of the deal. That deal would have given SpaceX 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park in exchange for 477 acres near Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. The Times’ report said some of the land SpaceX would give the federal government in the new potential exchange could be added to the Laguna Atascosa refuge.
The company’s presence in South Texas this year has become more prominent since the creation of a new city, Starbase, whose officials — and most of its residents — are SpaceX employees. The potential exchange could be the latest in a series of state and federal wins for SpaceX in the past year.
In May, the company was given approval by the Federal Aviation Administration to increase the number of rocket launches in South Texas; in June, the Texas Legislature gave the company authority to close a nearby beach for its launches; and in September, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the FAA over the environmental impacts of a failed SpaceX rocket launch in 2023.
Disclosure: The New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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Ayden Runnels is the afternoon/evening reporter. Previously, they were a breaking news reporter for the Las Vegas Sun. A graduate of the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, Ayden… More by Ayden Runnels