California Sues Federal Government and Wind Developer Over Corrupt $120 Million Fossil Fuel Payout
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California accuses the Trump administration of colluding with Big Oil to sabotage clean energy, misusing public funds to pay a wind developer for abandoning offshore wind in favor of polluting oil and gas.
The California attorney general and the state Energy Commission have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, exposing a $120 million handout to Golden State Wind to abandon its offshore wind lease off Morro Bay. The suit asserts that this backroom deal, orchestrated by the Department of the Interior in April, blatantly violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and diverts federal money meant for the public good into the pockets of fossil fuel interests. Instead of advancing renewable energy, the developer is now required to invest in oil and gas projects on the Gulf Coast—an outrageous reversal that prioritizes corporate polluters over the planet and the people.
California officials point out that the state has already invested more than $100 million in infrastructure, ports, and transmission systems to support offshore wind, and that this cynical cancellation undermines California’s ambitious goal of 25 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2045. The lawsuit also demands the return of the $120 million, arguing that it was stolen from a federal fund intended for settling legal claims, not for enriching fossil fuel cronies.
"The Trump Administration’s backroom buyout with Golden State Wind to stop offshore wind development in favor of gas and oil drilling is, unfortunately, a classic playbook for them to line the pocket of their Big Oil donors," Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement, highlighting the corrupt alliance undermining climate progress.
The agreement is just one example in a disturbing pattern, according to the filing, where the federal government has funneled nearly $4 billion to cancel at least a dozen offshore wind leases nationwide, forcing developers to prop up fossil-fuel projects. Similar dirty deals have been struck with Invenergy and RWE, leaving only two offshore wind leases in California untouched. Golden State Wind has not responded to requests for comment, and the Interior Department is hiding behind pending litigation, refusing to answer for its actions.