California Coastal Commission Faces Growing Backlash for Denying SpaceX Launches

The California Coastal Commission faced growing backlash this week for their decision earlier this month to deny SpaceX more rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base because of commissioners disagreeing with comments made by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Earlier in 2024, SpaceX and the U.S. Space Force planned for additional launches from Vandenberg SFB – as many as 50 launches per year. However, in order to do that, state permissions were needed, even if the federal government had already signed off. As it is near the coast, the Space Force needed permission from the California Coastal Commission (CCC) for the increased number of launches.

Earlier this month, the CCC voted 6 to 4 during a meeting in San Diego against more launches. Officially, the reason was that Space X wouldn’t have to get their own permits for a military launch, even if nothing from the military was being launched.

“I do believe that the Space Force has failed to establish that SpaceX is a part of the federal government, part of our defense,” said CCC Commissioner Dayna Bochco on Thursday.

However, two commissioners said Elon Musk’s comments on X and his recent political activities influenced the denial.

“Elon Musk is hopping about the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet,” said Commissioner Gretchen Newsom, who is not related to Governor Gavin Newsom. “It appears that rather than prioritizing the welfare of SpaceX employees and the environment, the focus has been on profit maximization.”

Commission chairwoman Caryl Hart added, “You could argue that it’s bringing in politics, but this is a political matter to some extent because it involves the US government, it involves the Coastal Commission. We are dealing with a company, the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race.”

Musk immediately vowed to sue the CCC for first amendment violations and did so last week. Others also called out the CCC, including Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) who demanded all communications about Elon Musk and SpaceX from the CCC in a formal public records request. Adding to the growing storm was Governor Newsom coming out on the side of Musk last weekend, agreeing with Republican colleagues that politics should not have played a decision in the vote. It was also the first time on record that Newsom came out in opposition his own hand-picked coastal commissioners.

A rare Newsom, Musk agreeance

“I’m with Elon,” said Newsom during a Harris/Walz campaign event in North Carolina. “I didn’t like that. Look, I’m not helping the legal case. You can’t bring up that explicit level of politics. These are friends of mine that said that. These are good commissioners. But you got to call balls and strikes. And trust me, I’m not big on the Elon Musk bandwagon right now. So that’s me calling balls and strikes.”

This week brought even more support from Washington. Congressman Vince Fong (R-CA) wrote his own letter to the CCC:

“I have grave concerns over their decision, with commissioners citing personal animus to justify what should have been a non-political decision. As a member of Congress, I believe that government decisions should be made in a fair and impartial manner, without regard to political views.

“In all my years in public service, I have never heard of a commission discussing politics as the basis for official action. This seems to be an egregious use of political discrimination to punish a specific company.”

With pressure coming now from both the state and federal level now, and from both parties, the CCC has remained quiet on the issue, likely in part due to Musk’s active lawsuit. Even worse for the CCC is that many other lawmakers will likely be supporting Musk’s lawsuit after Election Day.

“I can’t say who, but I do know of others here in Sacramento who will be writing to the CCC as well once elections are done with,” Dana, a Capitol staffer told the Globe on Thursday. “I know Newsom did it, but many don’t want to be seen supporting Musk publicly, even if it is just for SpaceX launches, until after the election. It’s why you haven’t seen other Democrats go after the CCC decision yet and so many Republicans who have.

“And remember here, it’s because why some of the Commissioners said no to the launches. They made it personal. You cannot make decisions on a personal level. That’s why lawyers and lawmakers recuse themselves from things they have a personal stake in or are related to somebody there or something like that.”

Aerospace consultant Miles Green added, “With the lawsuit, SpaceX can bring this back around. And all they have to show is that the SpaceX launches have military value. Rejections under that sort of basis are common enough, so you just bolster your next application or request. That decision making it personal was highly unusual though. You can’t get personal on decisions like that, and they did.”

More on the lawsuit is to come out soon.