Coastal

Environmental Consultant

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@kurt_r_us True.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

Another permit filed today at the future Starbase. This one again for more soil cores. This is the third permit filed so far for this geotechnical investigation work that has been ongoing. The second permit was cancelled, presumably just to amend the first permit since many plots overlapped. I’ll try at some point to plot these new holes from the permit today to see where they fall in relation to the others.

So far there hasn’t been any permits apps filed yet that would start painting the picture for what’s coming. You can try to draw conclusions from the test plots but I think that’s premature.

This doesn’t mean that Spacex isn’t making progress toward their big construction permits though. They just haven’t filed those applications yet. Pre application agency meetings exist for a reason and a complex project like this one will have many. You don’t just submit the vision, cross your fingers, and hope all the agencies love it. You schedule a meeting(s) with all appropriate agencies and go over the plan. Group discussion and all factors like equipment, access, scope, dredge, fill, direct and indirect impacts, mitigation, restoration, drainage, flood, among many other issues and concerns are talked about. Even the agencies will have to file their own permits. CPRA for the shoreline, DOTD for the roads, USACE for near the locks, police jury for drainage and on and on. I honestly can’t comprehend the level of interagency coordination needed for something like this. Once everyone is on somewhat of the same page then you file, otherwise it’s just revision after revision and a waste of time.

I’ll end with this. I permit a lot of projects in the LA Coastal Zone and have a tremendous amount of respect for all the regulators. They have to balance economic development while safeguarding and preserving our coast, which everyone knows is very sensitive but very important in so many ways. They work very hard. 754 permits filed so far this year in the Coastal Zone and each one thoroughly reviewed to minimize impacts. In fact I was on the phone this morning with the Coastal Zone administrator going over a project. The needs, the alternatives, the justification.

Down here along the coast everything you do affects something else. For a project of this size and nature it’s nearly impossible to predict what the direct and indirect environmental impacts might be. The regulators will be under a lot of pressure to keep things moving while also trying to make the right decisions and do the right thing from the start. Much respect. Ok sorry I’m done ranting. I’ll be out of pocket the next few days but will provide another update next week.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

Yeah it’s why Exxon couldn’t sell the land. Tied up in litigation for years. Started with an attorney in Lake Charles I believe and over time a couple dozen parishes joined. Sued over all the saltwater intrusion caused by the artificial canals. The only way to drill a well in the marsh was to dig a canal to get there.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

Trying to give ya'll a sense of scale for what Spacex acquired. I don't think the official acreage total has been reported yet, but if they acquired all of Exxon's acreage in this area then that appears to be about 120,000 acres per my GIS calculations. This matches up roughly with what everyone is saying.
This map helps put it in perspective just how much land this is. Spacex contractors are currently conducting an extensive geotech survey south of Hwy 82 and west of Freshwater Bayou that spans several miles (blue dots on map). But this area is "only" about 25,000 acres.
On the map, the Exxon property is shaded white. The green hatching is protected refuges. The yellow shading is a sanctuary owned by the National Audubon Society. And the ~13,000 acres in red are owned by the Tabasco hot sauce heirs.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@silverocean03 Happiest place in LA for sure

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@strickler_jay I haven’t seen any permits filed yet for developments around. It’s coming

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@Boogity4113 One of them posted yesterday he has a lease right in the heart of this. He said he thinks they will him hunt one more year. Bittersweet for sure

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@MiserMcMiserson Guy said they letting him hunt one more year down there

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@wayne_arendsee Will do when I get back on the computer

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@FormerF14883 Appreciate it.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@Jeff_nobluesky To say the least

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@strickler_jay Yep. We’re being invaded by multi billion dollar projects lol. LNG plants, then data centers, now rockets. Wild times

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@BocasBrain No problem. Got a little carried away.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@kurt_r_us It mainly was (and still is) a gas field. Started with Humble. They bought the land and developed it starting in the 1940’s I believe

[Coastal @thelacoast]

Are there any particular maps yall would like me to make? Maybe a deep dive of the soil boring locations with the depths added? Or something else?

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@Coveguy Absolutely. It will be their top priority. Not good for me, I have a bunch of coastal use permits pending. I need their attention lol

[Coastal @thelacoast]

Will be watching to see if any permit apps drop this week. For those that don't know this is highly regulated soil and permits are needed for pretty much any activity other than basic surveying. It's nearly all jurisdictional wetlands in the heart of the LA Coastal Zone and under the 5 ft contour. Just the simple soil borings they are doing required a permit app, drawings, review and comment from at least 5 agencies, and a permit 12 days later.
I know they won't be throwing the litter of lauch towers at the agencies in month 1, but even if they just start with the most basic activities on previously disturbed areas (agency friendly stuff) it will be a rigorous permitting process.
Can they get a permit in 6 months? Absolutely, but it depends on how much they want to bite off to start. Last year I permitted a dredge/fill project on this very property and State issued the permit in 63 days while Corps' permit took 62 days. So it's possible but I would think they would need to start very simple.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@Ctznofthegalaxy I’ve read a little about the alliance. I don’t think they would sell though. Spacex might want to lease it to do nothing else but have control over it as a security and safety buffer. At least the tracts close to launch pads

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@beausoleilsoul Yeah I’ve heard that too. Having trouble finding where the other 10k is coming from. VP tax assessor still has it all under Exxon. I need them to upload the deeds and update their GIS to know for sure

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@Couillon45s @BocasBrain @grok @CajunCybertruck I bet the hunting was phenomenal. Teal hunting in a couple of weeks? Or you weren’t able to renew your lease?

[Coastal @thelacoast]

@ClayinVA Yep. They floated that for a couple of years then pulled the plug. If they would have followed through with it I doubt they would have handed the land over to the state.

[Coastal @thelacoast]

This screenshot gives you a little sense of some of the junk that used to be down at the facility at the end of the road. I permitted this decom project a few years ago. Not my best plats, I already see a mispelling. There used to be a large facility and large storage tanks here back in the day. I know this area will be at the heart of their development, hopefully they don't have to do too much remediation.