JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A region of coastal marshes in small towns in Louisiana will now be home to what Elon Musk says will be a $100 billion SpaceX launch base. Republican Governor Jeff Landry and state lawmakers waived regulations, helping to get the project there. And as Drew Hawkins of the Gulf States Newsroom reports, residents nearby say they were kept in the dark about what it will mean for them.
DREW HAWKINS, BYLINE: Little downtown Abbeville, Louisiana, is blocked off for an invitation-only event. The biggest spaceport in the world is about to be announced.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Inaudible).
HAWKINS: The announcement comes with an action movie-style video showing Elon Musk, SpaceX's owner, landing in a helicopter near Pecan Island on Louisiana's coastline. He's greeted by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, surrounded by wetlands.
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JEFF LANDRY: What do you think?
ELON MUSK: Great. Yeah, it seems perfect.
HAWKINS: SpaceX says the $100 billion spaceport it's building will launch thousands of rockets a year, adding to launch sites in Texas and Florida. It's part of the company's plans for expanding its satellite internet business and data centers in space. The state promises 3,000 new jobs in Louisiana over the next decade.
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MUSK: I think starbase is cool.
LANDRY: Yeah, I love it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: OK.
MUSK: Starbase, Louisiana.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: All right, heard it here first.
LANDRY: Yeah. I can't - we can't wait to serve y'all the first pot of gumbo.
HAWKINS: After the video, Landry takes the stage in Abbeville. He thanks state lawmakers, many who signed nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, related to Project Osprey. That's the code name for the SpaceX project. The legislature passed new laws that exempt aerospace facilities from property taxes, like other industries in the state, and adding protection for aerospace from liability and nuisance claims related to noise and sonic booms. The NDAs prevented public officials from discussing the project. They've become common for deals under Landry, something I asked him about when he came offstage and talked to reporters.
Why not do these projects transparecy (ph)? Why all the NDAs?
LANDRY: Well, again, you think I want Texas to steal my thunder? You think I want other states to know what we're working on?
HAWKINS: About 30 miles away is Pecan Island. Gabe Giffin (ph), known as Gator Gabe in his outdoor education classes, takes me on a boat through the marshes where the spaceport will be.
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HAWKINS: Nesting shorebirds, alligators, we even see some deer in the marsh grass. Giffin says the SpaceX project had been nothing but rumors for months. Then a few weeks ago, white Xs appeared on the roads, markers for helicopters surveying the land from the air.
GABE GIFFIN: Whether you talk about the federal administration or on the state level or the NDAs, whatever it is, the elected leaders aren't telling the people what's coming down to them.
HAWKINS: The company plans for the site to launch Starship, the largest rocket ever made, maybe 30 times a day here. Giffin worries about how that will impact local wildlife. This area is on the Mississippi flyway. It's basically a highway for migratory birds heading south for the winter.
GIFFIN: And then where we're at, this is the last ledge they leap off of, if you will. They're going to feed up, power up on those beaches and fly to Central or South America next.
HAWKINS: SpaceX officials said at the announcement that the rockets will scare off the birds at first but they'll come back, something locals doubt.
BROOKE BROUSSARD: Why would the birds come back? They're smarter than us in some ways.
HAWKINS: Brooke Broussard (ph) is a bartender from Pecan Island who watched the SpaceX announcement on a live stream. She gets choked up when I asked about what Pecan Island means to her.
BROUSSARD: (Crying) This is my source in a lot of ways. You know, literally, my life source, where I came from, where I was conceived. And I find a lot of strength here, and I find a lot of strength in my family history here.
HAWKINS: She's worried SpaceX rockets and their impact will end a way of life here, people who hunt, fish and build their culture around the outdoors.
BROUSSARD: And I don't want the story to just be Elon Musk came and conquered. You know, I want the other stories to be told.
HAWKINS: SpaceX officials say construction is set to begin by the end of next year and the first launch is planned for 2029.
For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in Pecan Island, Louisiana.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELMIENE SONG, "MARKING MY TIME (BADBADNOTGOOD EDIT)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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