Attorney General Bonta Announces Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Trump Administration Wind Deal

Canceled Golden State Wind lease would jeopardize $30 million for workforce training, supply chain development, and benefits to local communities; offshore wind buyouts like this could cost California nearly 174,750 jobs 

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission (CEC) today filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration and Golden State Wind LLC over the Administration’s unlawful buyout of Golden State Wind’s offshore wind energy lease. The lease buyout jeopardizes thousands of high-quality jobs and the State’s investments in the offshore wind industry, including from voter-approved climate bonds. The canceled projects also threaten to set back California’s burgeoning offshore wind industry by years. Under the agreement, the U.S.Department of the Interior (DOI) illegally reallocated $120 million in federal taxpayer dollars to pay Golden State Wind to abandon its offshore wind energy lease in federal waters off of California’s Central Coast and requires Golden State Wind to invest an equal amount in out-of-state fossil-fuel projects that will do nothing to support California’s energy economy. In the lawsuit, California is arguing that the deal is blatantly unlawful and is asking the court to strike it down.

“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 pockets of their Big Oil donors,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Let’s be clear: California will continue to aggressively fight back against the Trump administration's outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars to abandon offshore wind investments that could have delivered union-paying jobs and reliable clean energy to Californians.” 

“Offshore wind presents an opportunity for our state to scale up an innovative new clean energy industry that reduces pollution while providing new jobs and investment for the people of our state,” said David Hochschild, Chair, California Energy Commission. "We will not let the Trump administration’s reckless actions turn back the clock. California’s clean energy future is worth fighting for. See you in court.”  

In 2022, after a highly competitive auction for offshore wind energy leases, Golden State Wind paid the U.S. $120 million to purchase an offshore wind lease in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area off the Central California Coast for a 2-gigawatt offshore wind farm, with additional commitments of more than $30 million for workforce training, supply chain development, and benefits to local communities like fishermen’s associations. But on April 27, 2026, DOI announced it would terminate the lease in a secretive agreement with Golden State Wind that purportedly “settles” litigation that Golden State Wind never brought, challenging action that DOI never took. DOI claimed that unspecified national security concerns justified the cancellation, even though the federal government had already reviewed and approved the lease area after years of analysis and consultation with the U.S. Department of Defense. In exchange, the federal government would unlawfully "reimburse" the company with $120 million from the Judgment Fund and Golden State Wind would move away from offshore wind development in California. In May, the CEC served an administrative investigative subpoena to GSW seeking documents and information related to the buyout. In June, the California Department of Justice and CEC sent a Notice of Intent to Sue targeting this unlawful agreement between DOI and Golden State Wind. 

Since federal offshore wind planning began off California's coast a decade ago, the state has invested significant resources in port readiness, transmission planning and stakeholder engagement. California has invested more than $100 million to ready California’s ports, transmission systems, and industries to support offshore wind generation, investments which may be lost if the Trump Administration succeeds in halting offshore wind development. Canceling these projects will also threaten good-paying union jobs, reliable infrastructure investment, and sustainable economic growth.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and CEC (collectively California) assert that the cancellation of the Golden State Wind lease will harm the state’s clean energy and climate goals and its economy. Offshore wind is expected to play a role in this plan due to its potential to generate vast amounts of electricity from strong, consistent winds off California’s coast. California’s offshore wind strategic plan calls for the state to develop 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045, enough to power roughly 25 million homes and provide about 13% of the state’s electricity supply ensuring that the state has enough energy to meet that demand, to accelerate California’s clean energy transition, create local manufacturing jobs, and drive economic development, especially in Long Beach and Humboldt ports where offshore wind turbines were expected to be staged and assembled. Cancelled offshore wind projects threaten to deprive California of more than 174,750 jobs, infrastructure investment, and long-term economic development.

In the lawsuit, California argues that the Trump administration’s deal violated numerous federal laws including the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which limits DOI’s ability to cancel offshore wind leases. California also argues that the deal violates the Judgment Fund Act because the $120 million payment was not a settlement to resolve an existing lawsuit. Instead, it was a fabricated arrangement designed to justify the unlawful cancellation of the Golden State Wind lease. California is asking the court to strike down the blatantly unlawful agreement and to stop the administration from implementing this illegal deal.