Elon Musk’s SpaceX accuses California of political bias over launch limits

Company sues after coastal commission cited CEO’s spread of misinformation on X in rejecting company’s proposal
ReutersWed 16 Oct 2024 19.48 BSTLast modified on Wed 16 Oct 2024 20.01 BSTShareElon Musk’s SpaceX has sued a California commission in federal court, accusing it of political bias in its decision to block the space venture company from increasing the number of rockets it launches from a US airbase in the state. The commission cited Musk’s penchant for spreading misinformation on his social network Twitter/X in a meeting where commissioners rejected the company’s proposal.
SpaceX sued the California coastal commission on Tuesday in Los Angeles, seeking an order that would bar the agency from regulating the company’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket launch program at Vandenberg space force base in Santa Barbara.
The lawsuit claimed the commission, which oversees use of land and water within the state’s more than 1,000 miles of coastline, unfairly asserted regulatory powers over the company’s launches based on a disapproval of Musk’s political views and not environmental considerations.
Musk’s lawsuit called any consideration of his public statements improper, violating speech rights protected by the US constitution. The suit also accused the commission of “unconstitutional overreach”, intruding on national security and other federal interests, and said launches at the base had had “no significant effects on coastal resources”.
“Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO,” the suit reads.
The coastal commissioner Gretchen Newsom had said at a 10 October meeting: “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.” Commissioners also argued that commercial space launches were not federal government activity, therefore the company must submit to the commission’s coastal development permitting authority. They voted 6-4 to reject the petition to make up to 50 launches from the space force base.
The commission on Wednesday declined to comment. SpaceX and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Musk, whose politics have taken a sharp right turn, has endorsed Donald Trump and become a mega donor, campaigning for the Republican presidential candidate and saying he would accept a role in Trump’s administration if he wins. He hopes to gut many government departments.
California, home state of Trump’s Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, has shifted to a solidly Democratic state in recent decades, with the party holding statewide offices and throwing its weight behind Democratic candidates in national elections.
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SpaceX, which contracts with the US government on satellite deployment and other payloads, has launched Falcon 9 rockets from the central California airbase since 2013. The company launched 28 Falcon 9 rockets last year. The air force had proposed increasing the number of SpaceX annual launches from 36 to 50. The air force said the proposal met California coastal agency requirements including sonic boom minimization measures and biological monitoring.