SpaceX Nears 130,000-Acre Louisiana Launch Site Deal as Opponents Warn of Bird Habitat Damage
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
SpaceX Nears 130,000-Acre Louisiana Launch Site Deal as Opponents Warn of Bird Habitat Damage
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
Summary
A reported deal would give SpaceX control of 130,000 acres in Vermilion Parish, letting it build an 18-mile Pecan Island launch complex and ramp up Starship flights.
Local opponents launched a website on Monday to fight the plan, saying rocket operations could damage fragile wetlands and a key Mississippi flyway stop used by hundreds of millions of birds.
Critics also say federal and state officials are weakening Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act reviews for new rocketry projects, raising fears of fast-tracked approval.
Pecan Island sits on one of the fastest-eroding U.S. coastlines, losing about one football field every 100 minutes, and scientists project roughly 2 feet of sea-level rise in Louisiana by 2050.
Neither SpaceX nor Governor Jeff Landry has confirmed the plan, though SpaceX has said thousands of future Starship launches will require multiple domestic and international sites.