By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -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 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 and not environmental considerations.
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.
The commission on Wednesday declined to comment.
SpaceX and its lawyers at the law firm Venable did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Musk, whose politics have taken a sharp right turn, has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and become a mega donor, campaigning for the former president and saying he would accept a role in Trump's administration if he wins.
California, home state of Trump's Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, has shifted to a solidly Democratic state in recent decades with the party holding statewide offices and throwing its weight behind Democratic candidates in national elections.
One commissioner on the 12-member coastal panel recently accused Musk, who has increasingly asserted his voice in the U.S. presidential race, of “spewing and tweeting political falsehoods.”
SpaceX, which contracts with the U.S. government on satellite deployment and other payloads, has launched Falcon 9 rockets from the central California air base since 2013. The company launched 28 Falcon 9 rockets last year.
The Air Force had proposed increasing the number of SpaceX annual launches from 36 to 50. The Air Force said the proposal met California coastal agency requirements including sonic boom minimization measures and biological monitoring.
The commission voted 6 to 4 to block the requested additional SpaceX launches. Some commission members expressed concern about Musk as a business leader and how much SpaceX activity at the site was commercial rather than government activity.
Musk’s lawsuit called any consideration of his public statements improper, violating speech rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.
It also accused the commission of “unconstitutional overreach,” intruding on national security and other federal interests, and said launches at the base have had "no significant effects on coastal resources.”
"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,” it said.