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LA Times: Can California’s coastal commission stop SpaceX launches from Vandenberg?

Link here. This article is a follow-up on the story I posted yesterday, about a meeting of the California Coastal Commission where locals demanded and the commission considered measures for attempting to limit an increase in launches from Vandenberg.

The article provides many more details about this political battle. It appears the military, out of courtesy, was letting the commission know that it wants to raise the number of launches to accomodate not just SpaceX but other private companies. It can do so without the commission’s permission, but wishes to work with it.

The commission and the ten or so people at the meeting complaining were exploring ways to block this increase. Though the meeting postponed any action until the next meeting in May, it was clear its commissioners will use the next few months to explore ways to expand their control, including looking for funding sources for initiating court actions.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Patrick Henry

    This, like so many other things, will depend crucially on the results of the November election. It goes without saying to get out and vote, particularly if you live in a swing state like Mr. Zimmerman’s Arizona. The stolen election in 2022 in Arizona had many disastrous consequences but one of the worst was electing another Democrat Secretary of State. The Maricopa county board of supervisors and the county election commissioner have not been changed so expect many of the same shenanigans as in 2020 and 2022.. we can work to make the margin larger than the stealing. So not only vote but also contribute money.

  • David Eastman

    The CA Coastal Commission is reputed to be one of the more awful examples of way too much power vested in a small group of people that has very little accountability and that most people are entirely unaware of. Several people have gone to court against them on various issues and had their cases rejected for lack of standing or authority, to the point that it’s not clear who actually *can* stop anything they choose to do. It does not surprise me at all that they are trying to prevent Vandenburg from escalating their launch rate, that was my first reaction when I heard that more launches were planned there: “not in CA, they aren’t.”

  • Richard M

    “We don’t allow roosters in this city, why can’t we regulate SpaceX?” Larry Steingold, an Ojai resident, asked the board.”

    I would laugh if I wasn’t crying.

  • Col Beausabre

    Ricard M – As always, the answer is in the Constitution – The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes”. So Larry, that is why you can’t, Bozo

  • John

    I wonder how many on that commission are seething that unapproved ideas are allowed on X. What we say is misinformation and disinformation is obviously dangerous to democracy, we have to do something, billionaire man bad !!!!

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