Hunters Are Reportedly Losing Leases on Land SpaceX May Take Over in Vermilion Parish
PECAN ISLAND, La. — Hunting camp leaseholders on land managed by the Vermilion Corporation near Pecan Island say they’ve lost access to leases they’ve held for years, without explanation, as Louisiana closes in on a deal that could hand roughly 130,000 acres to SpaceX.
The change surfaced months before state officials confirmed any details, leaving longtime leaseholders to piece together what was happening from rumor and speculation instead of any formal notice.
Leases Disappeared as Rumors Spread
Speculation about a major aerospace company eyeing the area had been building since at least this spring. Lafayette real estate firm owner Jim Keaty, who has worked in Louisiana real estate for more than two decades and owns a hunting camp of his own in the region, reached out to government officials, longtime residents, energy insiders and hunting-lease holders to get a clearer picture, then wrote up what he found in an April blog post.
Around the same time, some leaseholders on Vermilion Corporation land began reporting their leases had disappeared. No one gave them a public explanation, but several tied the change directly to the SpaceX rumors circulating at the time.
A Deal Built on Decades of Hunting and Fishing Access
The land at the center of the speculation traces back to a settlement resolving coastal erosion lawsuits against ExxonMobil, which has owned property in Vermilion Parish since the 1950s. That land has long been leased out for recreational hunting and fishing. Under the settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Exxon is expected to turn the property over to the state, which would then transfer control to SpaceX through a sale, long-term lease or similar arrangement.
Neither Gov. Jeff Landry’s office nor the Louisiana Department of Economic Development has confirmed SpaceX by name. Landry has acknowledged the coastal settlement but declined to discuss any aerospace deal specifically.
Lawmakers Cleared a Path While Staying Quiet on Wildlife
State legislators spent this spring building a legal and financial framework for exactly this kind of project. Lawmakers passed a package of tax breaks and liability protections for aerospace companies, later signed into law by Landry, that shields them from lawsuits tied to physical or economic harm caused by launch operations. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois has said the state studied what other states offered before drafting its own incentives.
Times-Picayune Business Editor Stephanie Riegel, who has covered the deal’s progress, told Louisiana Radio Network the legal protections would also block parishes, municipalities and individual residents from suing to stop the project. Riegel said the bills passed with bipartisan support.
What This Could Mean for the Coast
Vermilion Parish’s coastline has already lost miles of ground to erosion over the past several decades, and the area around Pecan Island is widely known among hunters and anglers for its fish, waterfowl and migratory bird populations. Riegel said she couldn’t say for certain what impact a launch facility would have on that wildlife, but called it likely to be profound given the area’s reputation for hunting and fishing.
State Sen. Bob Hensgens (R-Abbeville) has confirmed for months that a space company was negotiating with landowners in the area, though he’s said he wasn’t privy to details of the negotiations. He drew a crowd of more than 200 people to a Rotary Club talk on the subject last month, telling residents to prepare for the project’s economic impact.
What Happens Next
Landry is expected to announce the deal sometime this month. The state, SpaceX and the Vermilion Corporation have not said publicly what happens to existing and future hunting leases once SpaceX takes control. For now, the leaseholders who already lost access have no timeline for when that question might get answered.
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The International Space Station
Gallery Credit: Ed Nice
