8 ms·

A lot of good, hard working people in that area that would love to have these jobs open up.

ActorNightly 23d ago
[flagged]
pinkmuffinere 23d ago
somewhat topical video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3dSjY4j7Ak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3dSjY4j7Ak tl;dw -- louisiana has a ton of natural resources and wonderful harbors, but has allowed corporations to get away with almost anything without paying their fair share of taxes, cleaning up their waste, or generally being held accountable. And likely related, there is a long history of rampant corruption in the area. With sea levels rising and cancerous pollution filling densely populated areas, life in Louisiana has generally become very difficult :(
- gammarator 23d ago
  The book “Strangers in Their Own Land” covers similar ground.
- pstuart 23d ago
  > but has allowed corporations to get away with almost anything without paying their fair share of taxes No doubt one of the more compelling reasons for SpaceX to do it there (along with their given reasoning).
- jpleyden98 23d ago
  I haven't had time to watch the video but my understanding was a lot of the Louisiana coast have big problems with rising sea levels and much of it in the process of falling underwater. Perhaps it's relatively trivial to reinforce the coast for the forseeable I don't know. The plans for the site involve extracting significant amounts of natural gas to make methane to burn for the rocket fuel. If they hit the launch levels they suggest (thousands of launches per year), this is not a small amount of greenhouse gases they'll be emitting which of course helps accelerate melting of the ice caps and rising sea levels, which could threaten the very site they've built it on.
  - timschmidt 23d ago
    They're also the folks working on the largest co2 -> methane converters in the world. Because that's how they'll need to make fuel on Mars, and no one else on earth wants to fund an expensive technology to replace an inexpensive gas pumped from the ground. By definition, these reactors will have to be capable of producing enough fuel for a rocket in order to be fit for purpose. That opens the door for carbon neutral operation. It's tough to imagine a greener rocket than a fully reusable one that's carbon neutral running on methane. Sure beats spewing hypergolics or solid rocket fuels.
- tantalor 23d ago
  Reminds me of Africa in terms of resource exploitation and lack of re-investment.
gchamonlive 23d ago
What are the chances they'll employ cheap labor they can just use as election fodder for stealing hard-working american jobs? Either that or pay decent wages for American workers that'll drive up construction prices and worsen the inflation which is already crazy due to these criminal tariffs.
- timschmidt 23d ago
  ITAR requires them to employ US citizens.
  - rayiner 22d ago
    ITAR proves it’s possible to have immigration enforcement.
  - throwaway2037 21d ago
    To be clear, ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) restricts certain roles to "US persons". This is a weird term in US immigration/nationality law. A permanent resident (green-card holder) is classified as a "US person". As a result, SpaceX can employ non-US citizens for ITAR regulated roles.
    - inemesitaffia 21d ago
      SpaceX avoids hiring foreigners . Just like some companies/facilities only hire cleared people. Even though it may not be required.
- jtbayly 22d ago
  So no matter what they do, you blame them? If they pay not enough, they are bad, if they pay enough, they are also bad. Ok.
  - gchamonlive 22d ago
    They put themselves in that situation, the US admin, not me. I'm just commenting. Or is any of what I said wrong? I mean there's something called ITAR that requires American workers, but that doesn't mean the impact on inflation isn't real
deleted 22d ago
[deleted]

[flagged]

somewhat topical video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3dSjY4j7Ak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3dSjY4j7Ak tl;dw -- louisiana has a ton of natural resources and wonderful harbors, but has allowed corporations to get away with almost anything without paying their fair share of taxes, cleaning up their waste, or generally being held accountable. And likely related, there is a long history of rampant corruption in the area. With sea levels rising and cancerous pollution filling densely populated areas, life in Louisiana has generally become very difficult :(

gammarator 23d ago
The book “Strangers in Their Own Land” covers similar ground.
pstuart 23d ago
> but has allowed corporations to get away with almost anything without paying their fair share of taxes No doubt one of the more compelling reasons for SpaceX to do it there (along with their given reasoning).
jpleyden98 23d ago
I haven't had time to watch the video but my understanding was a lot of the Louisiana coast have big problems with rising sea levels and much of it in the process of falling underwater. Perhaps it's relatively trivial to reinforce the coast for the forseeable I don't know. The plans for the site involve extracting significant amounts of natural gas to make methane to burn for the rocket fuel. If they hit the launch levels they suggest (thousands of launches per year), this is not a small amount of greenhouse gases they'll be emitting which of course helps accelerate melting of the ice caps and rising sea levels, which could threaten the very site they've built it on.
- timschmidt 23d ago
  They're also the folks working on the largest co2 -> methane converters in the world. Because that's how they'll need to make fuel on Mars, and no one else on earth wants to fund an expensive technology to replace an inexpensive gas pumped from the ground. By definition, these reactors will have to be capable of producing enough fuel for a rocket in order to be fit for purpose. That opens the door for carbon neutral operation. It's tough to imagine a greener rocket than a fully reusable one that's carbon neutral running on methane. Sure beats spewing hypergolics or solid rocket fuels.
tantalor 23d ago
Reminds me of Africa in terms of resource exploitation and lack of re-investment.

gchamonlive 23d ago

What are the chances they'll employ cheap labor they can just use as election fodder for stealing hard-working american jobs? Either that or pay decent wages for American workers that'll drive up construction prices and worsen the inflation which is already crazy due to these criminal tariffs.

timschmidt 23d ago
ITAR requires them to employ US citizens.
- rayiner 22d ago
  ITAR proves it’s possible to have immigration enforcement.
- throwaway2037 21d ago
  To be clear, ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) restricts certain roles to "US persons". This is a weird term in US immigration/nationality law. A permanent resident (green-card holder) is classified as a "US person". As a result, SpaceX can employ non-US citizens for ITAR regulated roles.
  - inemesitaffia 21d ago
    SpaceX avoids hiring foreigners . Just like some companies/facilities only hire cleared people. Even though it may not be required.
jtbayly 22d ago
So no matter what they do, you blame them? If they pay not enough, they are bad, if they pay enough, they are also bad. Ok.
- gchamonlive 22d ago
  They put themselves in that situation, the US admin, not me. I'm just commenting. Or is any of what I said wrong? I mean there's something called ITAR that requires American workers, but that doesn't mean the impact on inflation isn't real

deleted 22d ago

[deleted]