Trump administration’s wasteful deal to abandon California offshore wind project undermines clean, homegrown power

SAN FRANCISCO — The Trump administration announced another wasteful deal to pay an energy company nearly $900 million in taxpayer funds to abandon its offshore wind projects off the coast of New York and New Jersey, as well as off the coast of California.

California is the only West Coast state with offshore wind leases. One of those five leases, the Golden State Wind project, was expected to generate enough power for about 1.1 million homes. Canceling it does not just remove a major source of clean electricity — it also puts significant economic benefits at risk. The project was set to deliver $24 million for workforce training and to build out a domestic supply chain — funding the state has already committed — with the offshore wind industry in California projected to create roughly 8,000 high road jobs.

“California invested in offshore wind because it will deliver reliable, affordable clean power to meet our state’s growing energy needs, while creating new jobs,” said Michael Colvin, Director, California Energy Program at Environmental Defense Fund.

“Instead of allowing much-needed homegrown power to get built, the Trump administration is wastefully spending taxpayer money to pressure a company to walk away from it. Obstructing clean energy projects is not energy dominance, it makes us weaker and more reliant on unpredictable fossil fuel markets.”

“As families face soaring bills driven by fossil fuel price spikes and as power demand from data centers, industry and homes keeps rising — we need to bring more reliable clean energy onto the grid with stable, predictable costs.”

A diverse pool of clean energy resources — including power from offshore wind — will allow California to better manage extreme weather events and meet rising electricity demand, while continuing to lower pollution statewide.

As a day-ahead West-wide electricity power takes shape, offshore wind will also become a particularly important source of clean power that California can sell across state borders, improving affordable and reliable power supply for communities across the West.

 “California is the gateway for many states to access offshore wind,” Colvin said. “Blocking it here will lead to even higher electricity costs and more pollution for millions of Americans in the West.”