Elon Musk And Gavin Newsom's Common Cause On The Fires

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s and Elon Musk’s rhetoric about California’s wildfire recovery efforts couldn’t be more different, except when it comes to one particularly polarizing state agency.

The California Coastal Commission, the oft-controversial body tasked with protecting the state’s coast, is again in the crosshairs of Musk and congressional Republicans, who’ve raised alarms that residents with homes destroyed by the Palisades Fire are in store for a permitting nightmare if they try to rebuild.

“The real red pill will come when people try to get permits to rebuild their homes and face multiyear waits,” Musk wrote in a Thursday night post to his 212 million followers. “This might finally spell doom for the Coastal Commission, which should not even exist as an organization.”

That Musk, who’s clashed with the commission over SpaceX rocket launches and claims of political bias, decided to criticize the agency comes as little surprise. The commission has long symbolized the national debate over housing production versus environmental preservation, writ small, and ultimately bureaucratic red tape and cost-of-living issues that Republicans successfully weaponized in November's elections.

But Newsom — who already raised eyebrows when he sided with Musk last year in the SpaceX spat — implicitly acknowledged that the criticism had gained traction on Sunday. The governor issued an executive order that suspended permitting requirements under the Coastal Act — the 1976 law that established the commission — and the California Environmental Quality Act, for homes, businesses and other structures residents plan to rebuild.

The problem? The Coastal Act already includes an exemption for rebuilding and repairing buildings damaged in natural disasters as long as the new construction doesn’t exceed 110 percent of the original footprint and height — language Newsom mirrored in his order.

Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said the order waives the need for residents to apply for an exemption and would cover any buildings that potentially don’t qualify.

While Musk’s attack was inaccurate, according to experts and commission staff — Republicans are seizing on a politically potent line of attack.

Congressional Republicans quickly picked up the refrain and tied it to the debate over whether to send federal relief funding to California.

“Even as California bureaucrats refuse to allow homes and businesses to be rebuilt, Congress will be asked to take money from Americans in all 50 states and give it to California. Would you vote to send federal money to California under these circumstances?” wrote Utah Sen. Mike Lee, in response to a former candidate for LA County supervisor saying the commission will “never in a million years allow these homes to be rebuilt.”

Minjee Kim, a professor in urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said Newsom’s order was likely a preemptive move to answer questions about the commission’s role in the recovery. “For any rebuilding that needs to happen, there shouldn't be any additional ‘development permit’ that needs to be secured,” she said.

But the commission's permits, which property owners need to build anywhere on the coast, can be notoriously hard to secure under normal circumstances.

Stories abound of the agency's tussles with celebrities like David Geffen and U2 guitarist The Edge. But Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Scott Wiener, the influential chair of California’s Senate budget committee, have also introduced bills in recent years to roll back the commission's authority and boost housing production in coastal cities like San Francisco.

Dan Dunmoyer, president and CEO of the California Building Industry Association, a trade group that’s often clashed with the commission, said he also believed Newsom’s order was preemptive, but saw a political motivation for singling out the agency.

“I see this as a governor signaling to the commission that I expect you to follow the law, and I'm telling you what the law is, just in case you might want to take a different position,” Dunmoyer said.

Commission chair Justin Cummings said the agency is actively trying to combat misinformation that could cause residents to miss opportunities for help. The commission’s website as of Wednesday included a notice on its homepage advising residents that homes and businesses destroyed by a disaster are exempt from coastal development permits.

“For people who are in a very emotional state to have prominent figures spreading misinformation and lies about the permitting process and people's ability to rebuild, it's just counterproductive,” he said.

And not all Democrats are ready to give Musk a win.

“Friendly reminder: Elon Musk could rebuild nearly every home that’s been lost in the LA fires for less than he paid to f’up this app,” Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, who represents a portion of Los Angeles, tweeted (and then deleted) Monday.

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