It's official: after months of speculation, SpaceX has formally announced that it will build a rocket launch facility in coastal Vermilion Parish.
Elon Musk's space exploration company will build a new rocket launch campus at Pecan Island, about 50 miles south of Lafayette.
A SpaceX project in the area had been rumored for months after residents received unsolicited offers from out-of-state parties to purchase their homes and properties. The Louisiana Legislature's approval of bills offering incentives designed to lure SpaceX to the state kept those rumors alive.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry is hailing the SpaceX announcement.
"Today, a new chapter of opportunity is within reach," Landry said during a Tuesday press conference in Abbeville. "SpaceX is committing $100 billion of capital investment.
Landry told the crowd assembled for the press conference that the SpaceX launch campus will help keep Louisiana's best and brightest in the state, noting that the project represents jobs for the state and momentum for local communities.
"The world can look to Louisiana not simply as a place that has endured but that it is a place that's ready to lead," Landry said, comparing SpaceX's venture into Vermilion Parish with the Louisiana Purchase. "Look at the map, and you will see wetlands and water. Look through the eyes of 1803, and you'll see something else: ground that appears ordinary until the nation decides what it is for."
SpaceX officials say their first task at Pecan Island will be to shore up the coastline so they can build the rocket launch facility. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says that shoreline shore-up is part of the company's environmental commitment to the state.
"SpaceX is partnering with state and federal agencies to expand Louisiana's coastal master plan, including shoreline protection, marsh protect, and wildlife conservation. The work includes thousands of acres of marsh creation to reconnect fragmented wetlands and help restore the natural storm buffer that this coast has lost."
Shotwell says once that happens, the company will bring around 10,000 new jobs to the state, jobs she says are perfect for Louisianians.
"You have a storied history of building large complex infrastructure projects, which this will be at scale, and we are looking to you for help," Shotwell said.
Construction at the Pecan Island site is set to begin in 2027.
