Louisiana Officials Planned New City to Attract SpaceX Spaceport
Louisiana state officials considered creating a new city in Vermilion Parish to secure a $100 billion SpaceX spaceport project known as Project Osprey.
Confidential state records show that Louisiana Economic Development (LED) officials considered constructing a new city in Vermilion Parish to attract a $100 billion spaceport project from SpaceX. Code-named Project Osprey, the initiative could involve 3,000 jobs and up to $50 billion in capital investment.
During a March 2026 briefing, LED officials identified the creation of a new city as an anticipated need to win the project. Officials studied the municipal model of Starbase, Texas, where SpaceX employees hold municipal power, to determine how to handle land annexation, road closures, and legal protections. While later briefings removed the explicit mention of a new city, they continued to emphasize the necessity of federal coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and extensive legislative packages.
The project has been managed with high secrecy, requiring over 100 state employees to sign nondisclosure agreements. This lack of transparency has triggered a lawsuit alleging that the state violated the Open Meetings Law during the approval of the deal and land settlements with ExxonMobil.
