Source: US News & World Report
“Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has sued a California commission in federal court, accusing panel members of political bias in blocking the space venture company from increasing the number of rockets it launches from a U.S. air base in the state. 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 the 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. The agency, at its Oct. 10 meeting, had said commercial space launches are not federal government activity and must submit to the commission’s coastal development permitting authority.” (10/16/24)