Governor Landry will be in Abbeville this Tuesday, where he’s expected to announce that SpaceX will be building a spaceport in coastal Vermilion Parish. Parish President Chad Vallo will also be on hand and says with the scores of high-paying jobs the spaceport will create, the announcement will be the day the parish changes forever.
“I always said that our parish was stalemate, because we had no more growth. We had people leaving rather than staying and coming back. And it’s very, very possible that our young kids and grandkids will be able to stay home and get very good jobs,” Vallo said.
The Pecan Island area is a haven for hunting and fishing, and outdoor enthusiasts are concerned about what the spaceport will mean for them. But Vallo says he’s confident that the net for Vermilion Parish will be overwhelmingly positive, just as a similar project in Brownsville, Texas, has been.
“If you look at Brownsville, and what some locals there are saying is that how positive it was for their community as well,” Vallo noted.
Vermilion Parish was hit hard by Hurricane Rita in 2005, and Vallo says SpaceX’s arrival should lead to better protections to avoid a repeat occurrence.
“They’re sure not going to build it at ground level; so definitely look that they would do something to protect not only their product and their infrastructure, which would, in turn, protect us as well,” Vallo explained.
The news conference is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. No word on whether SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will be in attendance.
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