CA to sue Trump administration after cancellation of SLO County offshore wind lease
California threatened to file a lawsuit on Tuesday over the termination of an offshore wind lease off the coast of San Luis Obispo County.
In April, Golden State Wind agreed to cancel its lease to build wind turbines in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area in exchange for a $120 million payout from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Golden State Wind must reinvest that money in U.S. oil and gas, energy infrastructure or liquefied natural gas projects in the Gulf Coast, the agreement said.
On Tuesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission sent a notice of intent to sue to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Department of Justice and Golden State Wind over that deal.
“At a time when the country needs more reliable and sustainable power supply, the Trump administration is busy using taxpayer money to strike backroom buyouts that make clean-energy projects disappear,” Bonta said in a news release. “California won’t stand idly by as the Trump administration illegally strikes deals to kill offshore wind projects and replace them with more windfalls for his fossil fuel friends.”
The Attorney General’s Office alleged that the deal violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act because the federal government did not hold a hearing before canceling the lease, it did not suspend the lease for five years before canceling, it did not coordinate with California’s governor and it did not follow the necessary lease relinquishment regulations, the notice said.
The Department of Energy and Golden State Winds has 60 days from Tuesday to fix the violation before the state sues.
Golden State Wind purchased its 80,418-acre lease area in 2022 for about $120 million, the notice said. The company pledged to generate up to 2 gigawatts of energy for the state, along with offering $30 million in workforce training, domestic supply chain development and community benefits.
Canceling the lease harms California’s goal to develop 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045, which the state has invested more than $100 million into, the release said.
“California has already made substantial investments in clean wind energy that have advanced California’s clean energy goals, created high-quality jobs and bolstered our economy,” Bonta said in the release. “My office will continue to fight back aggressively against the Trump administration’s illegal attacks on wind energy projects.”
Meanwhile, the California Energy Commission served a subpoena to Golden State Wind in May in search of documents related to the buyout with the Department of the Interior.
The California Energy Commission also recently submitted a subpoena to Invenergy, another offshore wind company that canceled its lease in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area last week.
