SpaceX has officially sued the California Coastal Commission (CCC) in a new suit that claims several members of its panel displayed a political bias that kept the company from performing several launches from a U.S. airbase.
The suit was filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles, and SpaceX wants the agency to be restricted from regulating any Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, where it routinely performs launches of its popular Starlink high-speed internet satellites.
CCC oversees over 1,000 miles of coastline in California, and SpaceX believes that it made some decisions based on Musk’s political stances.
Musk said in an X post yesterday:
“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.”
One member, Mike Wilson, admitted that Musk was “standing next to a person, a candidate,” who promotes and is “working to normalize” language of political retribution. He said the CCC “has to push back against that.”
Gretchen Newsom said Musk was “hopping around the country, spewing and Tweeting political falsehoods against FEMA” and “claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims.”
Musk and SpaceX launched free Starlink service in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, and First Amendment rights protect his statements.
SpaceX engineer distributes Starlink to aid Hurricane Helene recovery efforts
California Coastal Commission literally confessed to illegal regulatory lawfare against @SpaceX and Elon Musk.
Not only is what they’re saying completely ridiculous but it has absolutely nothing to do with their mandate of conserving the state’s coastline – They will be sued. pic.twitter.com/17PLfcivEz
— ALEX (@ajtourville) October 15, 2024
The CCC voted 6 to 4 to block the requested additional SpaceX launches, Reuters said.
Musk has very vocally shifted his political views to the Republican side and has backed former U.S. President Donald Trump for reelection, even appearing at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in recent weeks. This was what Wilson was referring to.
California is where Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is based, as she was a Senator from the state before assuming her position after President Joe Biden was elected in the previous election.
Now, the CCC will have to uphold its decision and defend it in court.
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