The California Coastal Commission rejected SpaceX's request to increase the number of launches it makes every year from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, and now SpaceX is suing the regulatory agency. The Elon Musk-founded company is accusing the commission of political bias, claiming in its lawsuit that the denial of its request was an act of "naked political discrimination," the Los Angeles Times reports. Currently, 36 launches of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets are allowed annually at Vandenberg, and SpaceX wanted to up that number to 50, KTLA reports. Military officials said SpaceX was expected to bump the target even higher, to 100, in a request next year.
The Coastal Commission's purpose is to protect California's beaches, and it says it has concerns about the impact to wildlife if SpaceX bumps up its number of launches. But some commission members also pointed to Musk's incendiary social media posts when the decision was made to deny his company's request. "Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO," SpaceX says in its lawsuit. It wants an order declaring its launch program a "federal agency activity," which the commission would not be allowed to regulate. (More SpaceX stories.)
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