The California Coastal Commission's fight with Elon Musk's SpaceX is back on
The commission drew a lawsuit from Musk — and a rebuke from Gov. Gavin Newsom at the time.
'I'm with Elon,' Newsom said in October after Musk sued the commission for political bias. 'You can't bring up that explicit level of politics.'
The fight is flying further under the radar this time around, though. Where a bipartisan group of pro-space state and federal lawmakers spoke up for SpaceX ahead of October's vote — and environmentalists chimed in on behalf of nearby residents and wildlife they argued would be disturbed by the launches' sonic booms — that type of lobbying hasn't materialized.
Neither Newsom's office nor SpaceX responded to a request for comment. Space Launch Delta 30 commander Col. James T. Horne III, who oversees Vandenberg and Western operations, said in a statement that the commission staff recommendation doesn't change the military's 'unwavering commitment to preserving the California coastline,' and that its partnership with SpaceX helps maintain 'its technological edge and strategic advantage over competitors.'
The relative quiet comes amid a shifted political landscape, after Trump returned to power and Republicans swept Congress on a message of affordability and economic strength. Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers, faced with looming refinery closures and perpetually high building costs, are trying to boost in-state oil drilling and have already weakened environmental permitting for everything from wildfire fuel breaks to high-speed rail, putting environmentalists on the back foot.
Jennifer Savage, California policy associate director for the Surfrider Foundation, said environmental groups are in rapid response mode, which has 'taken energy away from other things that we normally would have perhaps had more capacity to deal with.'
'I do think there's a lot of political overwhelm happening on all fronts, and that has divided people's attention perhaps more than when this first came up,' Savage said.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire have also shaken up the commission since last year, replacing members like former chair Justin Cummings, former vice chair Paloma Aguirre and alternate Gretchen Newsom (no relation to Gavin Newsom), all of whom had bemoaned Musk's behavior.
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