California regulators are recommending that state officials reject a U.S. military plan to increase SpaceX launches from a Southern California base, setting up another fight with Elon Musk, who previously sued the agency for political bias.
What happened: California Coastal Commission staff issued a recommendation Friday that the agency’s 12 appointed commissioners vote next week to reject the U.S. Space Force’s application to increase SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force base from 50 to 95 annually on the grounds that some of the launches don’t carry military equipment and shouldn’t receive state permitting exemptions.
Agency staff said the Space Force failed to provide information showing that all of the launches should be considered military activity, exempting them from commission oversight, even though most won’t carry military payloads.
Why it matters: It’s the third time SpaceX’s rocket launches have come before the Coastal Commission, which has jurisdiction over development on California’s vaunted 840-mile coastline, including Vandenberg Space Force Base. The agency does not have authority over military activity, however, meaning its votes are nonbinding.
