(The Center Square) – Congressman Kevin Kiley has introduced a bill to Congress that would strip the California Coastal Commission of much of its powers, citing its recent blocking of a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power request to upgrade wooden power poles to protect a now-burned plant.
“This is why I’m introducing a bill to rein in the CA Coastal Commission,” said Kiley on X in response to a report on how the CCC blocked the LADWP upgrade and collected $2 million in fines for trampling Braunton milkvetch shrubs that live in fire-prone areas. “It stopped LA from replacing wooden power line poles in an elevated fire-risk area in order to save a few “Braunton milkvetch” plants, collecting $2 million in fines in the process.”
The report from the New York Post outlines how the LADWP project aimed to replace wooden power poles with fire-proof steel poles, widen fire-access lanes, and install power lines more resistant to wind and fire. The CCC blocked the project to protect a few thousand local examples of the shrub, saying LADWP did not receive proper permitting; the area has since burned to the ground in the ongoing Palisades Fire, meaning the shrubs are likely gone as well.
Kiley’s bill would limit the CCC’s “authority to review certain activities, including national security-related activities, critical infrastructure projects, and activities with high economic impact, including post-disaster recovery and rebuilding” to ensure “vital aerospace and defense initiatives can move forward without undue delays and that rebuilding efforts are not unduly impeded following the catastrophic fires in Los Angeles.”
“The Commission’s vote to block additional launches at Vandenberg undermines our national defense readiness and threatens California’s leadership in aerospace innovation, and its history of irrational decision-making could threaten rebuilding efforts in the Los Angeles area,” Kiley said in a statement, invoking recent controversy in the CCC’s decision to reject a U.S. Air Force request to expand launches by Musk’s SpaceX. “My legislation will ensure that critical projects are not held hostage by unnecessary red tape or political bias.”
During the vote to block the SpaceX launch expansion from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CCC members invoked Musk’s personal politics, sparking national backlash.
“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 Starlink access to the internet,” said Commissioner Gretchen Newsom at the meeting.
“I really appreciate the work of the Space Force,” said Commission Chair Caryl Hart at the meeting. “But here we’re dealing with a company, the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race and he’s managed a company in a way that was just described by Commissioner Newsom that I find to be very disturbing.”
Musk filed a lawsuit against the CCC in October, leading the state to respond on Tuesday that the case should be thrown out because of a lack of injury, noting the Air Force decided to go ahead with and expand SpaceX launches anyway.