SpaceX, the satellite broadband giant owned by Elon Musk, has found itself at the center of two heated public debates this August—one on the West Coast, and another in the heart of Appalachia. On August 15, 2025, California’s Coastal Commission once again voted down a U.S. military plan to expand SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, a decision that echoes previous rejections and highlights ongoing environmental and regulatory tensions. Meanwhile, across the country in Virginia, SpaceX is locked in a contentious dispute with state officials over the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal broadband funding, with the company demanding a complete overhaul of the state’s proposal in favor of its Starlink satellite internet service.
The stakes are high on both fronts. In California, the Coastal Commission’s decision represents a significant setback for SpaceX and the U.S. military’s ambitions to ramp up West Coast launch activity. The commission, which oversees land use and environmental impacts along California’s iconic coastline, has repeatedly raised concerns about the potential risks increased rocket launches could pose to local wildlife, marine habitats, and public access to coastal areas. According to reporting from The Los Angeles Times, the August 15 vote marked another chapter in a long-running saga between SpaceX, military planners, and state regulators who must balance economic opportunity with environmental stewardship.
SpaceX’s frustration is palpable, but the commission’s stance is clear: more launches mean more scrutiny. The commission’s decision is rooted in its mandate to protect California’s coastal resources—a responsibility that sometimes puts it at odds with the breakneck pace favored by private space companies and their government partners. For now, the West Coast expansion remains on hold, leaving SpaceX to focus its attention on other battlegrounds.
One such battleground is Virginia, where SpaceX has taken a far more combative approach. On the same day as the California vote, SpaceX publicly demanded that Virginia redo its final proposal for a federally funded broadband deployment project, arguing that the state’s plan unfairly favors fiber-optic cable over Starlink’s low-earth orbit satellite technology. The dispute centers on the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a federal initiative passed during the Biden administration to connect unserved homes, businesses, and community buildings with high-speed internet.
Virginia’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), which administers the state’s broadband efforts, recently recommended $613 million in federal funding for the project—a figure that represents a $200 million savings from earlier estimates, according to a statement from Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office. The plan would connect the final 133,500 locations in Virginia that currently lack access to internet speeds meeting the federal standard of 100 megabits per second download and 20 megabits per second upload.
Under the DHCD’s proposal, the vast majority of these locations would be served by fiber-optic cable, long considered the gold standard for internet infrastructure due to its speed and reliability. But a smaller share would go to satellite providers: SpaceX’s Starlink was recommended to serve 5,579 locations with a $3.3 million award, while Amazon’s Project Kuiper would receive $4.5 million to reach 6,957 sites. In Southwest and Southside Virginia, Starlink was tapped for 3,137 locations with $1.6 million in funding, and Kuiper for 1,132 locations with $970,000.
SpaceX, however, is not satisfied. In a public comment email sent Wednesday, the company called the proposed expenditure “a massive waste of federal taxpayer money” and accused the state broadband office of putting “its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias over speedy, low cost, and technology neutral competition.” SpaceX’s critique is rooted in recent policy changes: after the Trump administration’s Commerce Department revised BEAD eligibility rules to promote technology neutrality and reduce red tape, SpaceX began aggressively pursuing federal broadband awards nationwide—including in Virginia. The company bid $750 per location for BEAD awards, a figure it claims is more cost-effective than fiber deployments.
But Virginia’s broadband office pushed back, citing technical and geographic challenges. In a July 17 response to SpaceX, Office of Broadband Associate Director Chandler Vaughan wrote that the state considered “foliage, topography and density of eligible locations” in its evaluations, adding that “the existing customer base should not be negatively impacted by the award of BEAD locations for a given technology to be considered scalable.” The office also noted that broadband technologies with obstructed line-of-sight, including wireless and low-earth orbit satellites, can experience “signal degradation, increased latency, and reduced reliability”—concerns especially relevant in Virginia’s rugged, wooded terrain.
SpaceX’s legal team fired back, insisting that “SpaceX considered foliage, topography, and density of eligible locations in its bid,” and argued that the state’s independent research was “neither accurate nor independent.” Senior counsel Shea Boyd asserted, “These facts conclusively demonstrate that the research used to support the Office’s findings does not accurately reflect SpaceX’s technical capabilities.” The company also highlighted that about 95% of all Virginia’s BEAD locations have a Starlink subscriber within a mile, suggesting the network’s reach is broader than state officials acknowledge.
The debate has spilled over into the public comment period, with strong opinions on both sides. Some Southwest Virginia residents, like Joshua Stanley of Wise County, lamented the prospect of receiving Starlink instead of fiber. “This program was meant to bridge the divide that we face in rural areas but without support for fiber programs from government funds no company will ever update the infrastructure in my area to truly put us on a level playing field,” Stanley wrote, adding, “You might as well give us a phone line and dial up because in a few years [that’s] what satellite will be like compared to fiber.” Another resident, Junior Stacy of Buchanan County, shared concerns about Starlink’s performance in heavily mountainous and wooded areas, writing, “My area is heavily mountainous and wooded, as such Starlink has extreme issues with obstructions here. Even partial obstructions are enough to seriously degrade service.”
SpaceX, for its part, maintains that Starlink’s technology is more than up to the task. The company pointed to data from its own tree cover analysis and disputed academic studies suggesting limitations in Starlink’s subscriber density. “Starlink network can, and does, serve all areas of Virginia,” SpaceX claimed in a July 26 document submitted to the broadband office. The company also argued that its infrastructure—relying on dishes costing a few hundred dollars each—offers a rapid, cost-effective solution compared to the labor-intensive installation required for fiber.
The Commerce Department, which oversees BEAD funding, released its revised policy on June 6, 2025, requiring states to resubmit applications with an emphasis on technology neutrality. Virginia’s final proposal is due in late October, but SpaceX has made it clear that unless the state changes course, it will press the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to reject the plan outright.
As the debate rages on, the outcome will shape not only the digital future of thousands of Virginia residents but also the broader national conversation about how best to bridge America’s persistent digital divide. With SpaceX and state officials digging in their heels, the next chapter promises to be just as contentious—and consequential—as the last.
