LAFAYETTE, La. — Louisiana is in the final stages of a deal that would bring Elon Musk’s SpaceX to coastal Vermilion Parish, where the company is planning a spaceport capable of launching rockets from an 18-mile stretch of marshland roughly 45 miles southwest of Lafayette.
The site, known as Pecan Island, sits at the center of a settlement resolving dozens of coastal lawsuits that accused ExxonMobil of pollution and land loss along the Louisiana coast. A source familiar with the agreement says the deal will give SpaceX control of about 130,000 acres, whether through a sale, long-term lease or another arrangement. Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to announce the deal this month.
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How the ExxonMobil settlement opens the door
Landry announced a settlement of the coastal lawsuits in June. Under that agreement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, ExxonMobil is expected to turn over land it has owned in Vermilion Parish since the 1950s, property long leased out for hunting and fishing. The terms have not been made public.
SpaceX would then take control of the site, with provisions built in for coastal restoration and protection, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. Landry has confirmed the coastal settlement but declined to discuss the SpaceX deal specifically, and Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois has offered no comment either. SpaceX hasn’t named Louisiana directly, though the company acknowledged in a social media post that it’s scouting new sites to expand Starship launch operations.
Why Pecan Island fits SpaceX’s plans
Pecan Island has a permanent population of about 100 people along Louisiana Highway 82. Aerospace experts point to a handful of reasons that sparse setting appeals to SpaceX: deep-water access along the Intracoastal Waterway for barging in rocket hardware, a location roughly midway between the company’s Texas and Florida facilities, and a local supply of natural gas. SpaceX has also told regulators it wants to launch up to a million low-Earth-orbit satellites in the coming years, a plan that will require more launch pads.
SpaceX’s existing Starbase launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, covers about 140 acres and employs roughly 3,400 people. A source familiar with the company’s Louisiana plans says the project would create thousands of jobs, though the full build-out is expected to use only a fraction of the 130,000 acres, with the rest serving as a buffer zone.
FAA proposal would waive environmental reviews
The timing lines up with a sweeping rule change proposed last week by the Federal Aviation Administration. The proposal would let aerospace companies bypass 13 federal environmental laws when applying for launch licenses, including protections under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the National Historic Preservation Act…