California sues federal government and wind developer over $120 million lease cancellation
California alleges that a Trump-era agreement paying a wind developer to abandon offshore leases and shift to oil and gas violates federal law and misuses public funds.
The California attorney general and the state Energy Commission filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, claiming that a $120 million payment to Golden State Wind to relinquish its offshore wind lease off Morro Bay breaches the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and improperly diverts federal money. The suit contends that the deal, arranged by the Department of the Interior in April, required the developer to invest in oil and gas projects on the Gulf Coast instead of pursuing renewable energy.
California officials say the state has already spent more than $100 million on infrastructure, ports and transmission systems to support offshore wind, and that the cancellation undermines the state’s target of 25 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2045. The lawsuit also seeks to recover the payment, arguing it was taken from a federal fund intended for settling legal claims.
"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.
The agreement is part of a broader pattern, according to the filing, in which the federal government has paid nearly $4 billion to cancel at least a dozen offshore wind leases nationwide, with developers agreeing to invest in fossil-fuel projects. Similar deals have been reached 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 declined to comment pending litigation.