The CEO of Phantom Space said he agrees with Elon Musk that the California Coastline Commission was « blatantly political. »
Jim Cantrell, the founder of Phantom Space, said he sides with his longtime colleague Elon Musk in SpaceX’s lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission, telling Business Insider he was « very surprised at how blatantly political » the commission had been.
Musk is suing the commission, accusing it of « unconstitutional overreach », after members publicly criticized his politics during a meeting and later rejected more frequent SpaceX launches off the California coastline at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
SpaceX was seeking to increase the number of launches each year from 36 to 50.
In its written decision, the commission said that as a private company, SpaceX is not exempt from obtaining a permit, even though it works closely with the federal government.
In its lawsuit, SpaceX accuses the commission of « political biases » and said another commercial space operator similarly conducting a mix of commercial and federal work was recently approved for 60 launches out of Vandenberg.
Cantrell, a member of SpaceX’s founding team and employee number four at the company, told Business Insider that SpaceX is referencing Phantom Space in its suit — and he’s firmly on Musk’s side.
« People who are representing government — whether it’s state government, federal government — really shouldn’t be basing their decisions on who you support for president or anybody else », Cantrell told BI.
A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) document viewed by Business Insider and signed by a United States Space Force executive in June 2024 showed Phantom was given the all clear for 48 flights annually at Vandenberg.
