'Just a sham': Huffman denounces Trump buyouts of wind leases as California prepares to sue

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT

California intends to sue the Trump administration over its deal to end an offshore wind project proposed off the state’s Central Coast.

State officials said they are combating the administration’s attacks on their offshore wind industry by sending a notice of their intention to sue to the Department of the Interior on Tuesday. Tuesday’s action is focused on the administration buying back the lease for Golden State Wind, a floating offshore wind project offshore of Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County.

California has made a major commitment to offshore wind because of its potential to generate vast amounts of clean electricity from strong, consistent winds off its coast. Its strategy calls for the state to develop 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2045, enough to power roughly 25 million homes and provide about 13% of the state’s electricity supply.

These energy and climate goals are now in jeopardy, and that’s why they will fight vigorously, said California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild. He called the administration’s strategy of buying back offshore wind leases “a strategic mistake of colossal proportions” that is especially stunning at a time when fossil fuel prices have been spiking due to the Iran war.

“Countries that thrive around the world are those that lean into innovation, into the energy sources of the future,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “And so to turn away from this, and turn back the clock, and really engage in what I consider to be a war on innovation, is really ill-considered. And I think it’s a decision that’s not just bad for California, it’s bad for the nation.”

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said on Tuesday the proposed litigation was “a very appropriate step to protect the state’s interest.”

Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources, described the administration’s arrangements with offshore wind companies as “fake settlement buyouts that are lighting billions of taxpayer dollars on fire to tell clean energy producers not to develop cheap affordable power. There’s no rational defense of this.”

Trump’s “personal grudge” against offshore wind, coupled with his desire to please “his Big Oil overlords,” said Huffman, are undercutting “projects that can bring cheap, reliable power to millions, on both the West and East coasts, at a time when costs are too high and families are struggling.

“It’s just as insane as it sounds. It’s also illegal.”

Huffman noted that Trump is paying offshore wind companies to terminate their leases out of the federal Judgment Fund, “which exists to settle legitimate lawsuits where our government has done wrong and we need to pay off judgments.”

But Golden State Wind never filed a lawsuit, said Huffman, who was recently visited in his D.C. office by that company’s CEO. “There was never even a claim.

“This is just a sham, where Trump dipped into this Judgment Fund as if it were his personal slush fund, and used it to buy these guys out, and that cannot be allowed to happen.”

Trump administration favors fossil fuels over wind

President Donald Trump has said he’s boosting fossil fuels to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy, and he frequently talks about his hatred of wind power. The Interior Department started buying back offshore wind leases after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action.

In exchange for reimbursements of lease fees, companies are investing in fossil fuel projects and geothermal energy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last week that “under President Trump, companies are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs.”

A total of five federal leases off California’s coastline have been awarded to energy developers. Two are being canceled through deals with the Interior Department: Golden State Wind and another floating project off California’s Central Coast by Chicago-based Invenergy. The state says it also issued an administrative investigative subpoena on Tuesday to Invenergy, which accepted a $765 million deal last week to terminate its offshore wind leases.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement that the state 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.”

Eight offshore wind projects have been stopped so far

The total amount spent on these agreements is nearly $2.6 billion. Under the first deal announced in March, French company TotalEnergies is getting nearly $1 billion — essentially a refund of its two offshore wind leases — if it invests the money in fossil fuels instead. Those leases were off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. New York is leading a lawsuit challenging the TotalEnergies agreement and Democrats in Congress are investigating it.

Golden State Wind and Bluepoint Wind agreed in April to end their leases. Bluepoint Wind was an offshore wind farm in the early stages of development off the coasts of New Jersey and New York.

Golden State Wind is a joint venture by Ocean Winds and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Under its agreement, Golden State Wind can recover about $120 million in lease fees after the same amount is invested in oil and gas assets, infrastructure or projects along the Gulf Coast, Interior said. Michael Brown, CEO of Ocean Winds North America, said in April that the deal provided “clarity” for the company and its investors.

Hochschild and Bonta say that Interior illegally reallocated federal taxpayer dollars to pay Golden State Wind to abandon its offshore wind energy lease and invest an equal amount in out-of-state fossil fuel projects, which will do nothing to support California’s energy economy.

They also say California has invested more than $100 million over the past decade to ready its ports, transmission systems and industries to support offshore wind generation, and those investments may be lost if the Trump administration successfully halts offshore wind development.

California plans to sue in 60 days if the situation isn’t rectified.

Press Democrat Staff Writer Austin Murphy contributed to this story.