SpaceX striving to keep Louisiana talent in state.

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I grew up 90 minutes from Pecan Island, LA as a born and raised Cajun in Lafayette 28 years ago.

I left because South Louisiana had no deep-tech path for me. @ULLafayette gave me my pre-med degree. To become a biomedical engineer I had to pack my bags for @CUBoulder to get my masters in biomedical engineering. Denver had become a biotech hub that I was wanting to get into because my home state did not have the industry for me to be apart of.

Louisiana trained me. Another state got the benefit.

That has been the story for far too long for the boot. We raise computer scientists, mechanical, electrical, and biomedical engineers; then Texas, Colorado, California, New York, etc. hire them. We had the oil, the minerals, the talent, and the extractive industries. Other states benefitted off of them.

Louisiana has been used to benefit other economies without companies and industries investing in our own state.

That landscape just changed.

Governor @JeffLandry and @SpaceX have announced Starbase Louisiana on the coast at Pecan Island. $100 billion investment in the state. The largest investment in this state’s history. Ten Starship pads on ~125,000 acres. Construction in 2027. First launch targeted for 2029. At least 3,000 direct jobs at ~$92,600, nearly double the parish average, plus 8,000+ adjacent jobs. @elonmusk has said the real number is closer to 10,000.

Despite what you might think, this is not just rockets over the Gulf. It is welders, technicians, engineers, and operators building the infrastructure for routine access to space. In addition, a project this size does not stay a spaceport. It pulls energy, software, logistics, other deep tech, housing, and advanced manufacturing behind it. Welders who built pipelines will build launch infrastructure. Universities that used to export talent will feed a local industry. That is how a launch site becomes a multi-decade tech boom, and why Louisiana’s economy will not look the same in 20 years.

I did not come back home to watch it. I came home to build in it, and I am all in.

Kids in Abbeville, Kaplan, Lafayette, and Pecan Island will grow up watching Starships leave their own coast. They will not have to leave home to work on the frontier.

The Louisiana Purchase stretched America from sea to shining sea. This stretches humanity toward the stars we look at every night. This turns our civilization into a Kardashev Type II civilization.

And the marsh is not an afterthought. This coast has been disappearing for decades — in places 3 to 23 feet a year. We currently can not afford to save it alone. SpaceX is partnering with the state on the Coastal Master Plan: shoreline protection, marsh creation, wildlife habitat. $25 million to the Community Foundation of Acadiana. Parish payments projected over $820 million across 25 years. First work on the ground includes the shoreline.

If you care about this ecosystem, read the actual commitments before you write it off or protest against what this means for our great state. South Louisiana has the workforce, the work ethic, and the skillset. What we lacked was a reason for the next generation to stay. This is that reason.

Thank you @LAGovJeffLandry @elonmusk @SpaceX for betting on Cajun country.

The next kid from Lafayette should not have to leave to build the future. #StarbaseLouisiana #SpaceX #Louisiana #PecanIsland #Starship #Acadiana #VermilionParish #LouisianaFirst

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