A new battlefront has opened up in the ongoing war between President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom: offshore wind.
In the early days of the Trump administration, California’s offshore wind supporters held out hope that their projects, still in the early development stages, would fly under the radar, even as the federal government attacked East Coast initiatives.
That illusion faded last week when the Department of the Interior announced a deal with Golden State Wind, a company planning a 2-gigawatt offshore wind project off the coast of central California, which would have produced enough energy to power 1.1 million homes. Per the new deal, the company agreed to end its lease and invest in fossil fuel projects instead, in exchange for a return of $120 million in lease fees. The project was one of only five initiatives to build wind farms off the California coast.
The offshore wind deal highlights what is becoming a recurring problem for Newsom (D): The federal government controls many systems central to California’s ambitious renewable energy goals. It’s true onshore, where the feds manage vast tracts of land and get to decide the fate of solar and oil projects alike. And it’s true offshore, where the Trump administration has successfully muscled through the restart of a controversial oil pipeline.
