SpaceX officials attend Louisiana government event outlining its effort to reduce red tape
Though everyone continues to say “No comment” when asked about the rumors that SpaceX is about to buy a 200+square-mile parcel of land on the Louisiana coast near the unincorporated village of Pecan Island (see map to the right), two SpaceX officials attended in late June a Louisiana government event outlining its effort to reduce red tape in coastal areas.
The meeting on June 26 was primarily aimed at discussing ways to speed permitting and other regulatory steps for projects, which often require [Army Corps of Engineers] involvement and approval. The meeting included a broad range of attendees from government agencies, ports, contractors, industry associations and relevant nonprofits.
Two SpaceX representatives involved in governmental and regulatory matters participated, including one, Owen McDonough, who specialized in water and wetlands issues for the Environmental Protection Agency during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Michael Hare, executive director of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said he invited McDonough because he knew him from previous work and believed he could provide valuable insight into regulations surrounding water and wetlands issues. The other SpaceX representative, Brandon Conroy, was involved in required environmental mitigation efforts related to the company’s “Starbase” industrial and launch facility near Brownsville, Texas.
It sure appears as if the Louisianan government knows something about SpaceX’s intentions and is working hard to get it to sign on the dotted line. In May the Louisiana state legislature passed laws expressly designed to encourage SpaceX to come to the state, limiting the ability of activists to file frivolous lawsuits while providing tax breaks for “aerospace flight entities”.
At the same time, nothing concrete has come from SpaceX. It has submitted no permit applications with the Corp of Engineers, and its only comment about the rumors was vague and non-committal, saying merely that it is continuously exploring potential new launch sites for Starship.
Regardless of whether SpaceX actually buys this land, the effort by the Republican Louisianan government to encourage new industry in its state contrasts quite sharply with that of Democrats nationwide, who are routinely opposed to any new or old industry, seeing it as evil that must be shut down as quickly as possible.
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“It sure appears as if the Louisianan government knows something about SpaceX’s intentions and is working hard to get it to sign on the dotted line.”
Who can blame Louisiana for wanting SpaceX in the state? (Rhetorical question, as we already know that watermelon-environmentalists and Democrats could blame anyone for anything that goes against their dreams of a worker’s utopian paradise.) We all saw what happened to poverty-stricken south Texas when SpaceX moved in, a mere decade ago. We all saw what happened to Southern California when the politicians chased Musk out of state.
Well, to be fair to California, the whole state was in a steep decline even before that, so recent disasters have more to do with horrific policy decisions than with the lost business of making Starship and Super Heavy on a Los Angeles pier. Policy decisions that let Paradise burn to the ground, a few years ago, and that let a major freeway burn, a couple of years ago, and prevented Los Angeles fire fighters from putting out smoldering grass fires on state land, which then reignited into a huge fire that burned down a major tax base for Los Angeles, last year, and that virtually required solar panels be installed onto the roof of a warehouse — panels that started a fire this year, leaving the stench of rotting food throughout huge swaths of Los Angeles, last month.
Clearly, the lack of freedom in California has messed up the American exceptionalism that once permeated throughout the state, in the better days of liberty and freedom. California: land of the once-free, home of those moving house to other states. Perhaps to the state of Louisiana.
He needs to go to Mobile
Less potential rioters. The Katrina-displaced are easily ginned up to meanness by those who purport to help them.
Mobile is cleaner—fewer LSU fans.
The Katrina diaspora didn’t return, which is one of the reasons Louisiana flipped from blue to red. Cheers –
Someone will bus them back in as professional protesters.
If I were Soros, only former residents flooded out would be in front of the cameras with pictures of former residences in the land to be bought by Musk, Bezos…whoever.
The optics of that would be quite worse than Boca’s Heckawi tribe with Chief Larry “Red Feather” Storch coming off more red neck than red man.
ESG Hound’s mewling won’t have the camera impact as someone who got themselves stranded at the Superdome or whatever.
At least the socialists from the 1960’s could come up with better rhymes..a five year old could devise better protests than the miscreants of today.
As usual, you live a rich and full fantasy life.
A key problem with this particular fantasy is that SpaceX isn’t looking to buy property in metro New Orleans but on remote and uninhabited Pecan Island. There is no one whose house used to be there before Katrina.
Katrina was twenty years ago, Jeff. It’s not a hot-button issue, and as our host has pointed out, the state legislature is passing laws limiting the ability of activists to file dumb lawsuits. You’re inventing reasons to panic.
I was unaware that Alabama had made SpaceX an offer. Then again, we were all unaware of the potential Louisiana deal.
I am fairly certain that if Alabama makes an offer, SpaceX would be more than happy to seriously consider it. They want to have a lot of launch pads so that they can perform a lot of launches during the Mars transit windows.
They haven’t, or at least there are zero public announcements to that end.
The key to this whole Louisiana story is the availability of that 200-plus square mile plot owned by Exxon that is presently unused. It is apparently available, and well placed and quite large enough for a spaceport.
As far as I know, no such piece of available real estate exists in Alabama. The state (and Jeff Wright) could make offers till their faces are blue, but without the right piece of property, they have nothing to sell.
Suspect that proximity to the Gulf and footprint to build a launch / production complex were the important parts. Not a lot of AL & MS are available to the Gulf. There are a LOT of square miles in LA and the FL panhandle available. Most of the FL panhandle is military ranges (Pensacola, Eglin & Tyndall). LA S of I-10 is not, a very logical place to build a new launch site, though that part of the state does get lawn-mowed by hurricanes from time to time. Cheers –
We get it, Jeff, you want everything in Alabama. But where would you even put a Starbase in the state? It has a narrow band of coastline on the Gulf, and almost all of it is either state parks or national wildlife refuge, or a developed area (I.e., Gulf Shores) that you couldn’t possibly launch near.
Louisiana has a lot of undeveloped land on the coast that is actually available.
This just in; SpaceX may have to move. According to this post, Texas is the second worst hellhole in the United States, devoid of such necessities as affordable health care, inclusiveness, worker’s protections, and reproductive rights. The horror, the horror.
https://www.aol.com/articles/texas-named-second-worst-state-155902000.html
The article reports that “Texas also finishes dead last in primary care physicians per capita, according to CNBC. The state ultimately earned an ‘F’ for quality of life, though the report cited childcare and air quality as strengths.” (One wonders if the massive influx of illegals, who must be provided with medical care, might skew the physicians per capita ratio a little.)
On this basis, SpaceX ought to be moving to California, Oregon, or perhaps Minnesota, but knowing Mr. Musk, it doesn’t seem very
likely. Louisiana, by the way, was ranked as the 4th worst hellhole in which to live, so I suppose that might be seen as a feature to him.
I’ll take freedom and you can have your list.
Darned shame that the (/sarc) tag wasn’t available for this. Hilarious. Conflagrations. Cheers-
To Richard M
The Starship-size SLS Pathfinder was made by G&G Steel and shipped by barge. It was made near Birmingham Alabama….we have a port of call in Jefferson County called Birmingport.
Birmingham was called the Magic City because of steel…so we have lots of empty facilities far from the coast. On solid ground–not swamps.
We have a huge stainless steel plant named AM/NS Calvert, and other nearby stainless plants in South Alabama.
The Tennessee River in North Alabama is home to the new, one mile long, 2.2 million foot HADRIAN submarine shipyard called “Factory 4” that is near the Tenn-Tom waterway. It is part of the Barton Riverfront Industrial Park…not far from the former EELV plant that now produces Vulcan.
Alabama has far more industrial space than many realize.
Jeff Wright
“Alabama has far more industrial space than many realize.”
Or, SpaceX can continue the trend that it seems to have invented — and that several other companies now use — and build its rockets close to its launch pads.
To Richard’s worry about Starbase….The Spaceport Company could help with off-shore pads. I can see some trajectories where SuperHeavy could arc up and over to Florida….less severe of a flip.
SpaceX briefly pursued offshore pads and then changed course. Why would they try that again just to use facilities in Alabama, instead of having greenfield projects they can customize to their liking? Given what priorities SpaceX has demonstrated, what does Alabama offer that is superior for the company’s needs, versus what you want them to use?