Following up on our recent post about the California Coastal Commission denying permission for Space-X to increase the number of annual launches from Vandenberg, comes this, the other shoe.
The Commission has now been sued, with Space-X alleging that the Commission denied permission due to CEO Elon Musk’s political leanings and his public statements.
“I really appreciate the work of the Space Force,” said Commission Chair Caryl Hart. “But here we’re dealing with a company, the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race and he’s managed a company in a way that was just described by Commissioner Newsom that I find to be very disturbing.”
Here’s the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court (Central District of California).
Was the Commission’s denial a product of concern for “wildlife like threatened snowy plovers,” or the Commission members’ dislike of Musk?
Stay tuned. The Coastal Commission isn’t all that used to pushback to it exercising monarchical-level dominion over the California coastal zone except in rare circumstances. But this appears to the the first time that the Commission has done wrong to the world’s richest man, who, unlike your average coastal property owner has the resources and the will to fight back.