Four months ago, the California Coastal Commission denied Vandenberg Space Force Base’s request for approval to increase the number of SpaceX launches. Now, the state agency is battling two lawsuits stemming from that decision.
In December, a conservative nonprofit sued the agency for allegedly not complying with public records requests for emails and other correspondence between commissioners and staff related to the decision. Judicial Watch is asking a San Francisco court to compel the commission to “perform its clear ministerial duties” under the California Public Records Act.
In the lawsuit, Judicial Watch outlines that this means the commission should determine whether the requested documents are in the commission’s possession, determine whether they are “disclosable public records,” disclose why it made the decision it did, and notify the nonprofit of when the information will be made public.
In October, commissioners opted not to approve Vandenberg’s request for a federal consistency determination—meaning that the project complies with applicable state policies and regulations—to increase the number of SpaceX launches at the base from 36 per year to 50. The request came months after the commission approved a similar request to increase SpaceX launches from six per year to 36.
This year, Vandenberg is expected to increase the number of SpaceX launches to 100. The U.S. Air Force is currently collecting public comments on the proposal’s environmental impact statement.
The Coastal Commission hadn’t yet filed a response to the public records lawsuit before the Sun went to press and told the Sun that it didn’t have a comment on the lawsuit.
On Jan. 14, California Attorney General Rob Bonta did file a motion to dismiss a separate lawsuit that SpaceX filed against the commission in October. The federal suit alleges that the commission showed “shocking, political bias” that month when it denied Vandenberg’s federal consistency request for the increased SpaceX launches.
SpaceX alleges that the commission’s decision violates free speech, interferes with the national space launch program, that launch facilities at the base are constitutionally protected from “intrusive” state regulation, and that the commission’s governing powers don’t apply to federal land.
“The justification the commission relied on to unlawfully intrude into the national security and the other federal interests implicated by SpaceX’s launch program—that some of SpaceX’s launches at the base are commercial—misses the mark,” the company’s October lawsuit states.
Bonta’s response argues that the commission’s decision hasn’t actually impacted SpaceX’s current or future activities at Vandenberg.
“The commission objected to the Air Force’s consistency determination, but the Air Force, as allowed by federal regulations, chose to proceed with the project over the commission’s objection,” the motion to dismiss states.
Vandenberg didn’t respond to a request for comment before the Sun went to press.
The case is set for a scheduling conference on March 14 in Los Angeles.
This article appears in Jan 23 – Feb 2, 2025.