SpaceX and Louisiana Announce $100B 'Starbase Louisiana' Spaceport in Vermilion Parish

SpaceX and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced plans on August 25, 2026 for a $100 billion Starship launch complex — 'Starbase Louisiana' — on roughly 125,000 acres of coastal marsh near Pecan Island in Vermilion Parish, about 50 miles southwest of Lafayette, between two state wildlife refuges. At full build-out the site would feature five launch complexes with two Starship towers each (10 pads total, each with its own propellant farm), plus propellant production, power generation, a deep-water port, an airport, and employee housing; Musk said the site could eventually host more than a dozen towers and over 30 Starship flights per day. Construction is targeted to begin in 2027 with a first launch as soon as 2029. SpaceX projects 3,000 direct jobs (average salary $92,600) plus roughly 8,100 indirect jobs, and Musk (via prerecorded video) and COO Gwynne Shotwell both spoke at the Abbeville announcement. Wildlife groups — including the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, National Wildlife Federation, and Pontchartrain Conservancy — immediately warned that the marsh hosts more than 300 bird species, including the critically endangered whooping crane, and urged the FAA not to waive environmental protections for the project; some Pecan Island residents said they learned of the plan only from news reports.