Covering SpaceX's Starbase Louisiana: Pecan Island, Vermilion Parish & Acadiana. On-the-ground updates. Wife, mom & Tesla fan 🚀
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Our new weekly video is up! This week we filmed from a special spot on the property: Mulberry Island, an area that could play an important role in the future Starbase Louisiana site.
A sincere thank you to everyone who has subscribed and follows along each week.
#StarbaseLouisiana
piped.video/i6hiDqpc-bE
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Last summer’s road trip included a stop at the @Tesla Diner. Love having a little souvenir we actually use. Can’t wait to go back!
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At our local town hall, @SpaceX said to expect most launch activity around sunrise and sunset — aiming toward thousands of launches a year.
Grateful that people from around the world will get the same chance we have now: watching the sun rise over Starbase, LA… and one day, watching something else rise with it. 🚀
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New local numbers: realtor Richie Guillory joined KATC's Midday with Darla to talk about Starbase Louisiana and Acadiana real estate.
What he shared for Vermilion Parish, comparing the same late-July to late-October stretch last year and this year:
• Land sales up 80% (30 to 54)
• Average land price up from about $27K to about $63K an acre
• Residential sales up 11%, while nearby parishes were flat or down
• Kaplan sales up 100%
He also walked through the DOTD route map: Crowley to Hwy 13, through Kaplan, then Hwy 35 down to 82.
"We're still in a little bit of a price discovery phase."
Starbase Louisiana Week in Review, Issue 2
Another busy week, and BIG NEWS. The State's contract with SpaceX is finally public, and there's a new job opening too. 🎉
STATE CONTRACT RELEASED
After a public records request by Vermilion United, Louisiana Economic Development released the State's signed agreement with SpaceX, dated Aug 25, 2026.
• New jobs must pay at least 150% of the statewide average wage
• At least $25M to the Community Foundation of Acadiana by Dec. 31, 2030
• Reasonable efforts to prefer Louisiana suppliers and contractors when they're competitive on price, quality and delivery
• LED will offer FastStart workforce training and the High Impact Jobs Program
• Approved uses: a rocket launch spaceport plus related manufacturing, compute, power generation and storage, and employee housing and amenities
• The State will set up long-term funding for the agencies that handle the project's permits
• Permit and FAA licensing delays pause deadlines on both sides
• SpaceX files budgets, twice-yearly progress reports, quarterly payroll reports and a sworn yearly compliance certification with LED
• The $100M land payment goes into LED's Site Investment and Infrastructure Improvement Fund
• The State can buy the land back only in narrow cases, by refunding the full $100M
• Rebates of state and local sales and use taxes on aerospace equipment and materials for 20 years, renewable for 10 more if SpaceX creates 200 jobs and invests $1B
• The contract runs through Aug. 25, 2037
JOBS
• SpaceX now has 9 openings in Pecan Island, including a second Communications Lead role posted Nov 2.
BIG NUMBER: 70%
• SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says about 70% of the Starbase, Texas workforce is local to the Rio Grande Valley, and SpaceX aims for a similar share in Louisiana.
SCHOOLS
• The Vermilion Parish School Board is having about 4,000 acres of school land near White Lake appraised ahead of possible land-swap talks with SpaceX. Superintendent Tommy Byler says the land brings in only $20K to $30K a year from hunting leases, and he'd like land closer to "where they're building two hotels and a restaurant."
COMMUNITY
• At the Police Jury committee meeting on Wed, Nov 4 at 5:30 PM in Abbeville, the Vermilion Council on Aging will request SpaceX-related funding.
PERMITS
• Day 39 for @SpaceX's big coastal permit for the road, bridge, and wharf. It's still marked incomplete after the state asked for more information on Oct 1. No new SpaceX filings this week.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Starbase Louisiana is getting international attention. Canada's Globe and Mail visited Pecan Island for a long feature on what the project means for rural Cajun country.
• LED's official SpaceX FAQ says SpaceX will pay for its own new power generation and lines.
• DOTD selected Royal Engineers & Consultants of New Orleans for work tied to the SpaceX site, under a contract running through 2031, as the State studies roads and possible LA 82 improvements.
STARBASE LA MERCH
• If you're interested, check out the Starbase, LA gear from @SERobinsonJr and the Occupy Gumbo shirt from @JoshWest247. Links below.
This week's video with Luke and Lena is linked below. Thank you to everyone following along. ❤️
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Watch the full segment here:
acadiananewsfirst.com/video/…
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Starbase Louisiana's site faces south, toward the open Gulf. That's a big part of why it fits SpaceX's plans for polar orbits, a capability few U.S. launch sites have.
Out of curiosity, we took Starship Flight 8's high-risk zone from Texas, kept its true size, and pointed it due south from the Louisiana site.
About 45 federal offshore structures fall inside. Only about a dozen reported any production in the past year. That's a small number to work around, and Louisiana's Gulf already shares space every day.
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How we made this:
• Zone: U.S. Coast Guard notice BNM 0019-25 (Starship Flight 8, March 2025), moved and rotated for size comparison only. Zones vary by flight.
• Platforms: BSEE federal records, production Oct 2025 to Sep 2026
• Federal waters only. Site location is approximate.
SpaceX has not published Louisiana flight paths. The southward direction comes from reporting on polar and sun-synchronous orbit access (Ars Technica, Aug 2026).
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Big news for Acadiana: @ULLafayette is building ties with @NASA as Starbase Louisiana grows.
UL President Dr. Ramesh Kolluru led a group to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to explore working together on research, education, and workforce training.
The details:
• Talks covered student internships, faculty work with NASA, joint research, and courses shaped by what the industry needs
• NASA shared the skills the next generation of aerospace workers will need
• The two sides discussed a possible framework for working together, though nothing formal yet
• At least six UL alumni worked on Artemis II, NASA's first crewed mission around the Moon in more than 50 years
• In 2007, UL became the first Louisiana university to launch a student-built satellite. Two more have followed, and a fourth is in the works
• Starting Fall 2027, UL plans to offer an aerospace engineering concentration in mechanical engineering, plus a minor in aerospace and autonomous systems
• A space computing systems concentration and minor is also in development
UL says SpaceX's spaceport near Pecan Island is speeding up the growth of Louisiana's aerospace industry and creating demand for skilled workers.
Pictured: NASA's Edgar O. Castro, chief of the Propulsion and Power Division at Johnson Space Center, with UL President Dr. Ramesh Kolluru and College of Engineering Dean Dr. Ahmed Khattab.
Photo: Amy Windsor / University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Source: UL Lafayette
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Starbase Louisiana Week in Review, Issue 2
Another busy week, and BIG NEWS. The State's contract with SpaceX is finally public, and there's a new job opening too. 🎉
STATE CONTRACT RELEASED
After a public records request by Vermilion United, Louisiana Economic Development released the State's signed agreement with SpaceX, dated Aug 25, 2026.
• New jobs must pay at least 150% of the statewide average wage
• At least $25M to the Community Foundation of Acadiana by Dec. 31, 2030
• Reasonable efforts to prefer Louisiana suppliers and contractors when they're competitive on price, quality and delivery
• LED will offer FastStart workforce training and the High Impact Jobs Program
• Approved uses: a rocket launch spaceport plus related manufacturing, compute, power generation and storage, and employee housing and amenities
• The State will set up long-term funding for the agencies that handle the project's permits
• Permit and FAA licensing delays pause deadlines on both sides
• SpaceX files budgets, twice-yearly progress reports, quarterly payroll reports and a sworn yearly compliance certification with LED
• The $100M land payment goes into LED's Site Investment and Infrastructure Improvement Fund
• The State can buy the land back only in narrow cases, by refunding the full $100M
• Rebates of state and local sales and use taxes on aerospace equipment and materials for 20 years, renewable for 10 more if SpaceX creates 200 jobs and invests $1B
• The contract runs through Aug. 25, 2037
JOBS
• SpaceX now has 9 openings in Pecan Island, including a second Communications Lead role posted Nov 2.
BIG NUMBER: 70%
• SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says about 70% of the Starbase, Texas workforce is local to the Rio Grande Valley, and SpaceX aims for a similar share in Louisiana.
SCHOOLS
• The Vermilion Parish School Board is having about 4,000 acres of school land near White Lake appraised ahead of possible land-swap talks with SpaceX. Superintendent Tommy Byler says the land brings in only $20K to $30K a year from hunting leases, and he'd like land closer to "where they're building two hotels and a restaurant."
COMMUNITY
• At the Police Jury committee meeting on Wed, Nov 4 at 5:30 PM in Abbeville, the Vermilion Council on Aging will request SpaceX-related funding.
PERMITS
• Day 39 for @SpaceX's big coastal permit for the road, bridge, and wharf. It's still marked incomplete after the state asked for more information on Oct 1. No new SpaceX filings this week.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Starbase Louisiana is getting international attention. Canada's Globe and Mail visited Pecan Island for a long feature on what the project means for rural Cajun country.
• LED's official SpaceX FAQ says SpaceX will pay for its own new power generation and lines.
• DOTD selected Royal Engineers & Consultants of New Orleans for work tied to the SpaceX site, under a contract running through 2031, as the State studies roads and possible LA 82 improvements.
STARBASE LA MERCH
• If you're interested, check out the Starbase, LA gear from @SERobinsonJr and the Occupy Gumbo shirt from @JoshWest247. Links below.
This week's video with Luke and Lena is linked below. Thank you to everyone following along. ❤️
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Links from this week:
SpaceX's new Communications Lead job: boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/…
State contract (via Vermilion United): vermilionunited.org/
S.E. Robinson Jr.'s Starbase LA gear: elonchron.shop/search?q=loui…
Josh West's Occupy Gumbo shirt: joshwest247shop.com/products…
This week's video: piped.video/i6hiDqpc-bE
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Vermilion Parish has 5,139 oil and gas wells. Only 109 are still producing.
Everyone talks about what Starbase Louisiana might bring to our parish, but fewer people talk about what we've already lost.
When I was growing up, oil and gas in the south end of Vermilion Parish helped pay for a lot of things here at home. It also put food on the table for most of the families I knew, including mine. My mom and dad both worked jobs tied to the oilfield, and my own work is still tied to it today. I wanted to see what those numbers look like now, so I decided to do some research.
I began with the parish as a whole. The state collects a severance tax on oil and gas pulled out of the ground. In fiscal year 2018-19, the state collected $19.1 million in severance tax on oil and gas produced in Vermilion Parish. In fiscal year 2025-26, it was about $10.3 million. That is down about 46 percent in seven years, according to Louisiana Department of Revenue reports.
I also looked at our schools. Much of the Vermilion Parish School Board's oil and gas money came from leases and royalties on its Section 16 land, which is land set aside to support our schools. A lot of it sits in the south end of the parish. In 2014, the School Board collected over $6 million in oil and gas revenue. In the 2024-25 school year, it collected about $150,000. That is a drop of roughly 97 percent. As far back as 2021, the local paper reported there was no drilling on that land and the district was losing millions. The money swings so much that board policy keeps it out of the general fund.
Then there is the Police Jury, which runs parish government. Its severance tax money actually went up, from about $1 million in 2017 to about $1.24 million in 2023. The reason is in the state constitution. A parish gets one-fifth of the severance tax collected on its production, but only up to a cap. That cap was $850,000 in 2007 and rises with inflation each year. It was about $1.33 million in 2024-25. One-fifth of what Vermilion produces is well above that cap, so the Police Jury's share is held down by the cap, not by how much we produce. It's a small, steady slice of the money that comes out of our ground. Most of the rest goes to the state.
Even the Sheriff's Office feels the shift. It doesn't get oil and gas royalties, but wells here are taxed as property, and they have lost a lot of value. In 2015, the parish's 604 taxable wells were assessed at about $42.3 million. By 2023, 555 wells were assessed at about $22.7 million. Oil and gas wells went from about 9 percent of the parish's assessed value in 2015 to about 5 percent in 2023. Homes and other property now carry a bigger share of the load for local services.
You can see it on the map. Most of those wells are now plugged, dry, or idle.
That is the bigger picture behind a lot of the conversations happening in our parish right now. The income our parish leaned on for decades has gotten smaller and less predictable. New industry, including Starbase Louisiana, could help fill some of that gap over time. But the slide in oil and gas money is a story of its own, and it is worth knowing.
Thank you to @LAGovJeffLandry and Louisiana Economic Development for working to bring new opportunity to the south end of our parish. Places like ours have given a lot to this state, and it means something to see someone invest back in it.
Sources: Louisiana Dept. of Revenue, Louisiana Tax Commission, Legislative Auditor audits, La. DENR Office of Conservation (SONRIS), The Advocate, Vermilion Today.
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Pecan Island made Canada's national newspaper this morning 🇨🇦
The Globe and Mail's science reporter came down to Vermilion Parish for a long feature on Starbase Louisiana. It covers the excitement and the questions, including from families who've been on Pecan Island for generations.
A few details that stood out to me:
About 130 people live on Pecan Island today, down from a few hundred before the school closed after Hurricane Rita.
SpaceX plans 3,000 jobs at an average salary of $92,600.
I was just at the old Pecan Island School this morning. It's surreal to see our little corner of the marsh getting this kind of attention from around the world.
#StarbaseLouisiana
theglobeandmail.com/world/ar…
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Visited the old Pecan Island School this morning. No changes to note so far. This is what a morning in Pecan Island sounds like.
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Just posted: next week's Vermilion Parish Police Jury agenda includes a SpaceX item.
At the Nov 4 Courthouse/General Needs committee meeting, Clare Martin of the Vermilion Council on Aging is listed with a "Request for SpaceX Related Funding."
The agenda doesn't give details yet. I'll share what I learn.
#StarbaseLouisiana
vppj.org/PDFforms/Agendas/Ag…
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Vermilion Parish schools' oil and gas money dropped from over $6M in 2014 to about $150K last year. Now the superintendent hopes a SpaceX land deal could help 📚🚀
The school board voted last week to have about 4,000 acres of school land near White Lake appraised. Right now that land brings in only about $20K–$30K a year from hunting leases.
Superintendent Tommy Byler said: "If I can get 1,000 acres where they're building two hotels and a restaurant, all of a sudden I'm making more money for the school system, which means better pay for our teachers, which means better facilities for our kids."
The appraisal will take several weeks, and the board will approve the details of any deal.
#StarbaseLouisiana
theadvocate.com/acadiana/new…
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"I'm the Birdman. I am what I am."
Luke & Lena met the one and only David Orr, @BikeBird1957, at Starbase, Texas. He saw JFK's moon speech in person at age 5, and now he's a Starbase legend. 🚀
piped.video/J3Ov7jd8hvs
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