Grimes County gives SpaceX Terafab project massive tax break

Kind: captions Language: en Our big story today, nearly 21,000 acres in Grimes County appears set to house a next-generation development from tech giants SpaceX, Tesla, and Intel. Today, county leaders in Anderson approved a 100% tax abatement for Elon Musk and a new reinvestment zone to house the project that's being called the Terafab. Grimes County Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to approve those agenda items despite concerns about the rushed process and any potential impacts that it could have here in the entire area. We've got team coverage on today's meeting, what it could mean for the Brazos Valley, but we're going to begin with Dylan Chris Watkins in Anderson, who was at that meeting that lasted several hours today. Dylan. >> Well, Rusty, it was a packed house today as more than 200 people showed up to today's meeting, and I counted around 65 speakers before commissioners voted 4 to 1 in favor of both the reinvestment zone and the tax abatement, and the one no vote coming from County Commissioner of Precinct 2, David Tullos. >> I felt like the the decisions that I made today best reflected the best interests of the folks that live in the county today and the best interests of the folks that will live in Grimes County in the future. >> David Tullos represents the area just south of the proposed SpaceX Terafab, stretching across the center of Grimes County, including Anderson and south toward Todd Mission. >> Overwhelmingly, the response has been that we were moving too fast, too soon, that we need to take the time to understand the process rather than rush through and make a decision that potentially was not in the best interest of Grimes County both today and in the future. >> Judge Joe Fauth was one of four leaders to vote yes on both agenda items. >> From my experience and with what we received from outside counsel, I believe we got the best deal that we possibly could without the deal walking away and going somewhere else. >> Residents like Aaron Wilhite said this is progress and progress takes time to get used to. >> We're going to need a tax base to help continue supporting the growth that we have in Anderson, our beautiful courthouse in Navasota, our our cute little um shops and stores and and uh places to eat and it's it's an exciting prospect that people will be coming out here to live. There's plenty of room for everyone. >> But for Grimes County resident and rancher Joseph Resnik check, today's votes felt like a betrayal. >> Effectively, everybody in this county was slapped in the face by our county officials and allowed a soon-to-be possibly trillion-dollar company to just walk in and dictate terms. >> As for what those terms are, I did ask for a copy of what commissioners agreed to, but Judge Faut told me those documents may not be available today as the county attorney had left for the day before 4:00 p.m. Judge Faut assured me though that publication would be soon and that the county had nothing to hide. He also mentioned that work for this project could start as early as this year 2026 now that these votes have passed. For now, live in Anderson, Dylan Chris Watkins, KBTX News. >> Dylan, thank you.