California officials cite Elon Musk’s politics in rejecting SpaceX launches

Elon Musk's tweets about the presidential election and spreading falsehoods about Hurricane Helene are endangering his ability to launch rockets off California's central coast.

The California Coastal Commission on Thursday rejected the Air Force's plan to give SpaceX permission to launch up to 50 rockets a year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

"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," Commissioner Gretchen Newsom said at the meeting in San Diego.

The agency's commissioners, appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, voted 6-4 to reject the Air Force's plan over concerns that all SpaceX launches would be considered military activity, shielding the company from having to acquire its own permits, even if military payloads aren’t being carried.

"I do believe that the Space Force has failed to establish that SpaceX is a part of the federal government, part of our defense," said Commissioner Dayna Bochco.

Space Launch Delta 30, which oversees military launch operations on the West Coast, said in a statement after the meeting that the Air Force has worked closely with commission staff on environmental protection issues and will continue to do so.

"Today’s vote hasn’t changed the [Department of the Air Force] or Vandenberg’s unwavering commitment to preserving the California coastline and the precious species that reside there," said Ravi Chaudhary, the Air Force's assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment. "The Space Force’s dedication to collaboration here is in many ways unprecedented — so is our commitment to ensuring dialogue continues."

The Coastal Commission, known for its sharp-elbowed defense of public access to the state's 840-mile coastline, has been sparring with the Air Force's Space Force branch since May 2023, when DOD asked to increase SpaceX's satellite launches from Vandenberg from six to 36 per year.

Things came to a head in August when commissioners unloaded on DOD for resisting their recommendations for reducing the impacts of the launches — which disturb wildlife like threatened snowy plovers as well as people, who often have to evacuate nearby Jalama Beach.

The commission ultimately approved the 36-launch plan at the meeting, on the condition that Space Force undertake seven measures to improve environmental protection and coastal access. But military officials didn’t commit to following them during the hearing, drawing fiery criticism from commissioners.

“Space Force came here and intentionally disrespected us,” Bochco said at the August meeting.

The two sides seemed to reach a detente heading into Thursday's meeting after the Air Force, which oversees Space Force, agreed in September to meet the commission’s seven conditions, including reducing the sonic booms and increased wildlife monitoring.

A bipartisan group of state and federal lawmakers had also weighed in before the hearing in favor of the application , arguing that California should take advantage of DOD's embrace of the commercial space industry.

But the goodwill evaporated after commissioners raised concerns about Musk’s political rhetoric, slammed the company’s labor record and questioned DOD’s contention that the launches should benefit from military permitting exemptions even if military payloads aren’t being carried.

“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.”

Commissioner Justin Cummings voted to approve the plan but said he was still uncomfortable about a lack of data on the effects of launches and that he shared concerns about SpaceX's classification as a military contractor.

"I just want to appreciate all the work that's been done on this attempt to get to 50 launches," he said.

SpaceX officials didn’t attend today's hearing in person, instead offering a statement over Zoom in support of Space Force's request. The company didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

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