section_path: Facilities/Boca Chica, TX: Starship manufacturing, launch
section_name: Boca Chica, TX: Starship manufacturing, launch
paragraph_text: Boca Chica, TX: Starship manufacturing, launch
  
  SpaceX manufactures and flies Starship test vehicles from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica near Brownsville, Texas, having announced first plans for the launch facility in August 2014. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the permit in July 2014. SpaceX broke ground on the new launch facility in 2014 with construction ramping up in the latter half of 2015, with the first suborbital launches from the facility in 2019 and orbital launches starting in 2023.
  
  SpaceX has faced increased scrutiny over the environmental impact of its Starbase facility. In August 2024, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality cited SpaceX for violating environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into water near the Boca Chica launch site. The EPA fined SpaceX approximately $150,000 for allegedly discharging "industrial wastewater" and violating the Clean Water Act.