Attorney General Bonta files motion to dismiss SpaceX lawsuit against Coastal Commission
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – On Jan. 14 of this year, Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by SpaceX against the California Coastal Commission after the state authority denied a request by the U.S. Air Force to increase launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
In the motion to dismiss, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Attorney General Bonta argued that because the U.S. Air Force chose to ignore the California Coastal Commission's objection for an increase of up to 50 launches a year, SpaceX was not harmed by the decision.
"Even though the Air Force makes the final decision under the regulations and is proceeding with the project, SpaceX brings this lawsuit, challenging the [California Coastal] Commission’s decision on constitutional grounds. SpaceX seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the Commission. SpaceX also seeks damages, including punitive damages, from five of the Commissioners who took part in the
Commission’s decision, three of whom concurred with the Air Force’s consistency determination...Under
well-established judicial precedent, SpaceX’s claims are not justiciable. SpaceX fails to allege an injury-in-fact from the Commission’s objection to the Air Force’s consistency determination—an objection that the Air Force chose to disregard, as federal law allows it to do. Additionally, any potential future requirement for a consistency certification is speculative and contingent on approvals by the federal government that SpaceX has not and cannot allege have occurred. Any potential requirement for a state coastal development permit is speculative as well. For these and other reasons below, SpaceX’s lawsuit should be dismissed." - Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California in Motion to Dismiss Space Exploration Technologies Corp. v. California Coastal Commission et al.
In October of 2024, the U.S. Air Force submitted a proposal to increase rocket launches -up to 50 per year- from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Part of the proposal included an environmental review where the California Coastal Commission could assess if the project would comply with state coastal policy under the Coastal Zone Management Act.
The image below, courtesy of the California Coastal Commission, shows the inland extent of the Coastal Zone in Santa Barbara County as the blue line.
The proposal required a federal consistency determination, a state-level decision concerning federal actions that impact local coastal zones, and was the catalyst for the objection to additional launches on behalf of the private company late last year.
"[T]he Commission’s punitive decision, violating core Constitutional protections of free speech and due process, undermines U.S. national security and is blatantly illegal, trampling over (i) federal law; (ii) exclusive federal jurisdiction over military bases and other federal enclaves; and (iii) the Commission’s own governing statutory boundaries," argued the lawsuit from SpaceX filed a week after the Coastal Commission's decision.
The decision over whether to dismiss the charges or allow them to proceed will be up to Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles where a hearing on the motion is currently scheduled for March 14 of this year.
Your News Channel reached out to SpaceX and the California Coastal Commission for a statement regarding the motion to dismiss and there responses will be included when they are received.
