Trump administration targets California coastal agency in escalation of energy production fight

The Trump administration plans to evaluate the performance of the California Coastal Commission, in the latest escalation of a dispute between the state’s Democratic leaders and the federal government over energy production. Per federal law, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) is required to conduct reviews of federally approved coastal management programs, which take into consideration “the extent to which the State of California has implemented and enforced the program approved by the [commerce] Secretary”. In May , the US Department of Commerce posted a letter from its secretary, Howard Lutnick, where he called for the evaluation and accused California of “environmental terrorism”, saying the Golden state had obstructed spaceport developments. The US Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment about which space-port proposals Lutnick was referencing. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has not yet commented on the evaluation. Last August, the coastal commission declined to grant a US Space Force request to up the number of Space X rockets they could launch from a base on California’s central coast. Elon Musk’s aerospace company later sued the agency for political bias, a lawsuit that was settled in April. California has also been at odds with the Trump administration over oil production. Democrats in the Golden state have touted a commitment to renewable energy. …