Elon Musk’s SpaceX Sues California Coastal Commission

The California Coastal Commission is living up to its dodgy reputation, and is now getting sued by the world’s richest entrepreneur for it.

Last week, the CCC voted to deny more launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County because of Space X founder Elon Musk’s comments on X and his recent political activities.

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) is an unelected commission of political appointees that lords over locally elected city councils in cities and counties on the California coast.

The Globe reported:

“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,” expressed 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.”

This not only ruffled Musk – Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) sent a letter and California Public Records Act request to the coastal commissioners demanding all communications about Elon Musk and SpaceX.

In his letter and CPRA, Essayli said:

Representatives from the U.S. Department of the Air Force and U.S. Space Force testified that SpaceX’s operations at Vandenberg are integral to advancing our national security interests, including SpaceX launches for commercial purposes, and therefore constitute federal agency activity.

The comments made by commissioners during the October 10 hearing revealed a clear and concerning politicization of a critical national security interest and retaliation for the engagement in protected free speech under the First Amendment. It is inappropriate for the Commission to consider the private activities of any executive, including Elon Musk, especially those unrelated to the management or oversight of SpaceX. The political bias of the individual Commission members should never influence the determination of any decision, especially at the expense of California’s and our nation’s best interest.

Essayli didn’t mince words:

The politically motivated decision to reject SpaceX’s submission threatens not only the national security interests of the United States, but also severely undermines public trust in the Commission and its members who voted against concurrence.

Neither did Musk in his lawsuit mince words.

“In the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Musk’s SpaceX accuses the commission of ‘unconstitutional overreach’ after members criticized his political leanings during a meeting about whether to approve more frequent SpaceX launches off the California coastline,” Business Insider reported.

“The lawsuit says the commission unfairly asserted regulatory powers because it disagreed with Musk’s politics.”

The miserable Sacramento Bee characterized Assemblyman Essayli’s letter and CPRA request as “Essayli rides to Elon Musk’s defense,” when his letter makes quite clear that the coastal commissioners are interfering in national security interests over their own petty political biases.

In a Tweet on X Tuesday, Musk made his case:

The Coastal Commission has one job – take care of the California coast. It is illegal for them to make decisions based on what they (mostly wrongly) think are my politics. For example, I have done more to advance sustainable energy & help the environment than maybe anyone ever, which is not exactly a “far-right” position. Yet here they are shamelessly breaking the law! They should resign immediately and face the appropriate legal consequences for their actions.

The California Coastal Commission’s environmental zealots have decades of regulatory activism, and are notorious for running roughshod over Californians’ property rights. The Pacific Legal Foundation has spent as many decades suing the CCC over gross violations of California property owners’ rights. If you want your blood to boil, read PLF’s big win in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission in which the Coastal Commission agreed to grant the Nollans’ building permit—but only if the Nollans consented to give away one-third of their property to the state.

Assemblyman Essayli, “riding to Elon Musk’s rescue,” is correct that “it is imperative that the public be made aware of all communications surrounding this decision given the admitted political bias against SpaceX and its leadership.”

The Coastal Commission has been given a free pass for decades by the California Legislature to violate Californians’ rights. And now it is apparent they are violating Elon Musk’s constitutional rights to the First and 14th Amendments.

Musk said it best:

Incredibly inappropriate. What I post on this platform has nothing to do with a “coastal commission” in California!