Elon Musk vows to sue after California officials cite his X posts when rejecting more SpaceX rocket launches

Elon Musk announced on X Sunday that he intends to sue California after their agency of environmental bureaucrats refused to allow more SpaceX rocket launches from the state and cited Musk’s political statements online when they did so.

“Incredibly inappropriate. What I post on this platform has nothing to do with a ‘coastal commission’ in California! Filing suit against them on Monday for violating the First Amendment," he said.

The decision that Musk was referring to was reported Thursday in Politico. What really upset something called the California Coastal Commission was the United States Air Force’s decision to allow SpaceX to fire up to 50 rockets a year from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located in Santa Barbara County. The commission apparently believes it has the right to overrule that decision because it doesn’t like Musk’s posts on X in support of former President Donald Trump. They also didn't like his calling out FEMA incompetence as he struggled with the agency over getting his Starlink connectivity systems up and running for victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

"I criticized Elon Musk’s 'recent comments on the federal government's hurricane response and painted him as a profiteer hungry for government support while maintaining a poor record of labor and safety violations at his space company,'" Newsom wrote on Musk's X platform.

“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,” Commissioner Gretchen Newsom said at the meeting in San Diego.

Newsom’s online biography includes the following item: “Gretchen is also the Political Director for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 569 and organizes efforts to invest in local good-paying, green-collar jobs, workforce development, civic engagement, and renewable energy.”

The agency commissioners are appointed by the government and leaders of the California legislature. They voted 6-4 to override the Air Force’s promise to Musk and its decision to list all SpaceX launches as military activity. “I do believe that the Space Force has failed to establish that SpaceX is a part of the federal government, part of our defense,” said Commissioner Dayna Bochco. Space X recently sent a vehicle to rescue two US astronauts from the International Space Station and Starlink is being used by military forces in Ukraine.

Space Launch Delta 30, which is responsible for military launch operations on the West Coast, told the commission that the Air Force has complied with directives from the commission in the past and will continue to do so on environmental protection issues, according to Politico.

Musk has also threatened to sue the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for “regulatory overreach” after it said it would fine SpaceX $630,000 for alleged safety breaches. Musk has had more recent cooperation from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which granted Musk’s Starlink “special temporary emergency authority” to provide cellular service to the region devastated by Hurricane Helene. He had been offering to help out in the wake of the storm with regular posts on X about the need to do more for survivors.

During former President Donald Trump’s return engagement to Butler, PA, Musk spoke to the crowd about the First Amendment and afterwards backstage told a small group of admirers about SpaceX’s planned mission to Mars, which he called “the biggest space race in history.”