California Insanity: Commission Rejects Space Force Plan for SpaceX Launches Because Elon Musk Supports Trump

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From Breitbart: The California Coastal Commission has denied Space Force plans for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch crucial satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base because the governmental body doesn’t like Musk’s politics. One commissioner claimed SpaceX should not be allowed to support the American military’s work in space because Musk has “aggressively injected himself into the presidential race.”

Politico reports that in a 6-4 vote on Thursday, the California Coastal Commission rejected the Air Force’s plan to allow SpaceX to launch up to 50 rockets per year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The decision came as a blow to the aerospace company’s ambitions, with commissioners citing concerns over Elon Musk’s political rhetoric and the classification of SpaceX as a military contractor.

During the meeting in San Diego, Commissioner Gretchen Newsom criticized Musk’s behavior, stating, “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.” The commission, known for its strict defense of public access to California’s coastline, had been in ongoing discussions with the Air Force’s Space Force branch since May 2023 regarding the proposed increase in SpaceX’s satellite launches from Vandenberg.

The primary point of contention was the Air Force’s request to shield SpaceX from having to acquire its own permits, even for launches not carrying military payloads. Commissioner Dayna Bochco expressed doubts, saying, “I do believe that the Space Force has failed to establish that SpaceX is a part of the federal government, part of our defense.”

During Thursday’s meeting, Commission Chair Caryl Hart declared, “I really appreciate the work of the Space Force… 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.”

On Monday, Musk had predicted: “SpaceX will deliver ~90% of all of Earth’s mass to orbit this year. Once Starship is flying regularly, SpaceX will deliver >99% of mass to orbit, unless some other company creates a large, fully reusable rocket.”

In a related matter, Vivek Ramaswamy announced on Wednesday:

Resisting the pull of government bureaucracy turns out to be harder than escaping Earth’s gravity well. Looks like SpaceX is waiting on a license from the FAA before it can launch Starship. This means the company founded by @elonmusk has to “prove” to a bunch of federal regulators that the launch won’t be harmful, and then those same regulators get to decide whether SpaceX made a strong enough case. These decisions rely on the regulators’ discretion, which makes it easy for them to insert their own biases.

This method of regulating isn’t just dangerous, it’s also probably unconstitutional. In June, SCOTUS ruled in SEC v. Jarkesy that agencies can’t house judges, prosecutors & rule-writers under the same roof. If a government agency tries to fine you, you now get to plead your case in front of an actual jury, not some in-house tribunal run by the same agency. As Columbia law professor Philip Hamburger recently argued, our current licensing regime “goes much further than denying jury rights.” If the Court is serious about restoring due process, they’ll extend the reasoning of Jarkesy to cover these kinds of federal licenses – and I believe they will.

Two years earlier, the West Virginia v. EPA decision established that “major questions” with large economic consequences are reserved for Congress, not unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. The case went far beyond nullifying a few EPA regulations, and it’s hard to think of a question with larger economic consequences than who wins the 21st-century Space Race.

Armed with this precedent, a future administration could dismantle most of the regulatory state with a few strokes of the pen, restoring self-governance & unleashing the U.S. economy like never before. We might even get that Mars colony we dreamed of.

And yes, I have an indirect investment in SpaceX, but my real ‘skin in the game’ on this issue is as an American citizen who cares about our self-governing republic.

Musk replied, “Yes, this is stifling progress in America.”

WATCH: Here is Elon Musk’s full speech at Trump’s rally in Butler, PA

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