California sues Trump administration, developer over deal to walk away from Morro Bay wind power
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Set us as preferred After the Trump administration paid California offshore wind developers to abandon their leases and pursue oil and gas development instead, the state is fighting back.In a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S.
District Court for the California Northern District, state Atty.Gen.
Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission allege that one of the deals violates federal law and constitutes an illegal payout.“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,” Bonta said in a statement.Offshore wind is central to California’s clean energy plans.The state has a goal to develop 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045, enough to provide about 13% of its electricity supply.Golden State Wind, off Morro Bay, was expected to generate up to 2 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power about 1.1 million homes, according to the developer.
The U.S.Department of the Interior said in April that it would pay the developer $120 million, the amount Golden State Wind had paid for its offshore lease, if the company invested in oil and gas projects along the Gulf Coast instead.
The move followed similar deals with other U.S.offshore wind projects, and this summer the administration announced agreements with two other companies seeking to develop offshore wind in California.
Invenergy will get $765 million to abandon four leases including one off Morro Bay, and RWE struck a deal for $1.22 billion to cancel leases including one near Humboldt.The agreements left California with just two offshore wind leases intact.
The state says it has invested more than $100 million already to prepare ports, transmission systems and industries to support the offshore ...