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 Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission allege that the deal violates numerous federal laws 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 companiesseeking to develop offshore wind projects off Morro Bay and the Humboldt coast.
The state says California has invested more than $100 million already to prepare ports, transmission systems, and industries to support the offshore wind and the buyouts are a waste of taxpayer money.
In May, the California Energy Commissions served Golden State Wind with a subpoena seeking information on the buyout.
In the lawsuit, California argues that deal violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives California input into offshore leasing decisions.
Golden State Wind and the Department of the Interior did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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