The Trump administration plans to evaluate the performance of the California Coastal Commission, escalating a dispute between Democratic-led California and the federal government over energy production, offshore drilling, and state regulatory authority.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in May posted a letter calling for the evaluation and accusing California of “environmental terrorism,” saying the state had obstructed spaceport developments. Per federal law, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is required to conduct periodic reviews of federally approved coastal management programs, assessing the extent to which a state has implemented and enforced its approved program.
The California Coastal Commission last August declined a U.S. Space Force request to increase the number of SpaceX rockets that could be launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the state’s central coast. Elon Musk’s aerospace company later sued the agency for political bias, a lawsuit that was settled in April. Lutnick’s letter referenced the commission’s actions on spaceport proposals, though the Commerce Department did not immediately specify which proposals he was citing.
California has also been at odds with the Trump administration over oil production. The administration invoked emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to restart a long-shut offshore oil pipeline system owned by Texas-based Sable Offshore Corp. The pipeline, part of the Santa Ynez unit off Santa Barbara, has been shut for more than a decade after rupturing in 2015 and spilling over 140,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sought to block the administration’s plan. In a May news release, Bonta said the federal order was an “illegal attempt” that “lets Sable profit at the expense of our environment and public health,” adding that the federal government was interfering with the state’s “sovereign authority.”
The state is also embroiled in a legal dispute over offshore wind energy. The U.S. Department of Transportation withdrew a nearly $427 million Biden-era grant for a proposed offshore wind project that could produce electricity for an estimated 25 million homes. California has a goal of developing 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2045 and achieving a carbon-neutral electrical grid by the same year. Bonta sent the Trump administration a notice of intent to sue last week over the grant withdrawal.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has not publicly commented on the evaluation of the Coastal Commission.