Elon Musk (Wikimedia Commons); a SpaceX rocket launch (NASA); and Mike Wilson (Humboldt County).

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Yesterday afternoon, the richest person in the world reposted a video of Mike Wilson, Humboldt County’s own Third District Supervisor and (more to the point, here) a member of the California Coastal Commission.

SpaceX — the space exploration company founded by Elon Musk — is suing the state commission in federal court over a decision it made last week concerning its increasingly frequent rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

The suit alleges that commissioners showed political bias in rejecting SpaceX’s plans to increase the number of rocket launches up to 50 per year. Musk seems to view Wilson’s comments as evidence of this bias, even though Wilson wound up voting to approve the SpaceX plans. 

The central question before the commission was whether or not these blasts into space should be considered federal activity — since SpaceX is a contractor for the U.S. military — regardless of whether the rockets’ payloads are for the government or for Musk’s private satellite internet company, Starlink.

With a 6-4 vote, the commission rejected SpaceX’s plans, despite assurances from military officials that they would increase efforts to monitor the impacts of rocket launches on nearby wildlife and mitigate the reach of sonic booms. The majority objected to categorizing all SpaceX launches as military activity, saying the the activity is not consistent with California’s coastal management plan and the company should be required to apply for its own coastal development permits.

Musk believes the decision was based on a disapproval of his political views, which were very much a topic of discussion during Thursday’s hearing. In the course of deliberating, several commissioners — including Wilson — voiced concerns about Musk’s behavior, including his recent activity on the Trump campaign trail, his companies’ workplace safety and labor relations record, and his “bigoted beliefs” about transgender people.

See the annotated video below that Musk reposted on the social media platform he owns, X (formerly known as Twitter):

Wilson, who declined to comment for this story, was arguing that there are legitimate reasons to be concerned.

“This company is owned by the richest person in the world with direct control over what could be the most extensive global communication system on the planet,” Wilson said, referring to Starlink. “And just last week, that person was speaking about political retribution on a national stage. And it was very glib and but yet he was standing next to a person [Donald Trump], a candidate that openly promotes and is working to normalize that language, right?”

Fellow Commissioner Gretchen Newsom (an alternate and no relation to Gov. Gavin Newsom) was even more pointed in her criticism of Musk. Reading from a prepared statement, she described “a pattern of disregard for employee welfare and regulatory compliance” at Musk’s various companies, citing a Reuters story documenting 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at SpaceX.

“Right now, 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 access to the internet,” said Newsom, a labor organizer. “But this claim itself … is a falsehood, because one must first purchase the Starlink startup kit for several hundred dollars and then face a monthly fee of $120 after 30 days of free internet, a sick ploy to gain customers that are facing tremendous burden and dire straits.”

Newsom also objected to the fact that federal agencies were requesting permits that would profitably benefit SpaceX.

“It appears that rather than prioritizing the welfare of SpaceX employees and the environment, the focus has been on profit maximization, often at the expense of the public and our communities,” she said. 

Wilson’s comments have predictably caught the attention of right-wing media pundits, including Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld:

Wilson is named as a defendant in SpaceX’s lawsuit, along with all of his fellow commissioners. Curiously, though, the complaint incorrectly lists Wilson as being among those who voted to reject the company’s plans:

That’s wrong. Despite his concerns about Musk’s political and business activities, Wilson was among the four commissioners who voted to approve the consistency determination. So was Commissioner Justin Cummings, who’s also incorrectly identified as a “no” voter.

“As much as we might not like the company that the federal government has agreed to conduct these launches with, we really have to stay focused on the fact that our role is making sure that they’re not damaging the environment,” Cummings said during Thursday’s hearing.

Wilson, meanwhile, commended the Air Force and Space Force for working hard to address environmental concerns, and he argued that voting to approve the consistency determination would allow the Coastal Commission to retain its seat at the table during ongoing negotiations.

Military officials say they will again ask for another increase in annual rocket launches — for up to 100 annually — by early next year.