California sues Trump admin over offshore wind lease buyout

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump administration and Golden State Wind, alleging the federal government paid the company $120 million in taxpayer funds to abandon an offshore wind lease and redirect the same amount into Gulf Coast fossil fuel projects. The lease covered more than 80,000 acres roughly 22 miles off California's coast, won at auction in 2022 with a bid including $30 million for workforce training and community benefits.

Bonta says the Interior Department claimed the buyout settled potential legal claims from Golden State Wind, but the company 'never filed or came close to filing' any complaint or legal action, calling the arrangement a 'settlement offer first, claim after' sequence that isn't how real legal disputes get resolved. The suit alleges the deal also violates the Judgment Fund Act and Antideficiency Act by spending unappropriated funds on the administration's preferred fossil-fuel projects.

California had invested more than $100 million of its own money into offshore wind development to meet clean energy goals, money the state says is now stranded by the federal action. The Interior Department declined to comment on pending litigation.

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