SpaceX plan for vast rocket launch site on Louisiana coast sparks backlash
Plans by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a vast rocket launch site on a stretch of Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastline have stirred a backlash among some local opponents who fear it will badly damage the area’s fragile ecosystem.
A deal for SpaceX to take control of 130,000 acres of coastal Vermilion parish is reported to be close to being finalized, allowing the company to escalate its number of launches, including of its new Starship mega rocket. SpaceX also has ambitions to deploy artificial intelligence datacenters in space, and while some experts have doubts about this, it has submitted regulatory filings to build a constellation of up to a million of them.
The deal with Louisiana’s Republican state leadership will enable SpaceX to build on an 18-mile strip of Pecan Island, a low-lying slice of land with just a few hundred inhabitants that sits south of the city of Lafayette. The land was previously given up via a legal settlement with the oil giant ExxonMobil, which was accused of worsening land loss and pollution through its activities in the area. ExxonMobil has described the lawsuits against it as “meritless”.
Neither SpaceX nor Jeff Landry, Louisiana’s governor, have yet confirmed the plan for the rocket site, although the space company did previously post on X, another Musk company, that thousands of starship launches will “require the ability to launch from many different locations, so we are constantly exploring to find viable sites to expand Starship operations in the future, both domestically and internationally”.
The prospect of a new spaceport spanning an area several times larger than Washington DC has alarmed some opponents in Pecan Island. On Monday a website was launched to rally opposition to the SpaceX plan, with its organizer warning that the huge new facility would imperil critical migratory bird habitat.
Hundreds of millions of birds, including snow geese, whooping cranes and 40% of all North American waterfowl, use Pecan Island as a crucial stop-off in their migratory flights through the Mississippi flyway, a key corridor that birds use in seasonal flights between North and South America.
“We have existed alongside oil and gas for over 100 years, we aren’t against industry, but we haven’t blasted off high-octane rocketry before,” said Gabe Giffin, a Louisiana resident who set up the new website. “I think space is cool, too. But many of these birds need this area and we need to have a proper process in place for this.”
Giffin and other critics have raised concerns about moves by federal and state governments to sweep aside requirements to follow laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act when approving new rocketry projects like SpaceX.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is a leading donor to Republicans and undertook an unelected reorganization of the federal government last year at the behest of Donald Trump.
“They are throwing out the rulebook to make my home a desolate wasteland for what? Rockets?” said Brooke Broussard, a schoolteacher in nearby Abbeville whose family has long lived on Pecan Island.
“I’m concerned about the already fragile hydrology of Pecan Island and its wetlands, and the quality of life for residents who live there despite the hardships. These are people who want peace, not crowds and traffic. This would set a precedent to allow dirty business without any sort of accountability.”
Some locals do see opportunities arriving through jobs and investment brought by SpaceX, Broussard said, and even some protection from the onward march of the seas.
Perched on the Gulf of Mexico coast, Pecan Island is part of a fraying Louisiana coastline that is quickly eroding away, losing about one football field of land every 100 minutes.
This rapid land loss is caused by rising sea levels from the climate crisis, as well as the subsidence of the state’s coastline. Scientists project that Louisiana faces about 2ft of sea level rise by 2050, a scenario that imperils even New Orleans and will drown almost all of Pecan Island, including its buildings.
“Some people are saying that SpaceX will build up the land here and save us but most of the people I’ve spoken to are against all this,” said Broussard.
“It’s all Trumpers on Pecan Island but people aren’t for this. We are probably doomed, with all the storms coming. But my thing is that we should be allowed to go in peace. The people who continue to live there despite the peril deserve better.”
Neither SpaceX nor Landry’s office responded to a request for comment.
Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.
