Overview
- California officials sent a Notice of Intent to Sue to the U.S. Department of the Interior and Golden State Wind on June 23, 2026, saying the notice gives the parties 60 days to cure alleged violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act before a lawsuit is filed.
- The dispute centers on an April DOI agreement to terminate Golden State Wind’s Morro Bay lease and reimburse about $120 million to the developer on the condition that an equivalent sum be redirected into out‑of‑state fossil‑fuel projects.
- The California Energy Commission has issued administrative subpoenas to Golden State Wind in May and to Invenergy on June 23 seeking settlement documents and information about the federal buyouts that the state says were negotiated without proper state input.
- State officials tied the Morro Bay action to a broader federal pattern that has paid roughly $2.5–$2.6 billion to end offshore wind leases, including a recently reported $765 million deal with Invenergy and a nearly $1 billion agreement with TotalEnergies, and they say those buyouts are creating legal and planning uncertainty.
- California warns the cancellations could undercut its goal of about 25 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2045, threaten jobs and supply‑chain investments, and trigger further litigation and congressional and state investigations that could shape the fate of U.S. offshore wind development.