Overview
- California sent a Notice of Intent to Sue to the Department of the Interior and Golden State Wind on Tuesday, giving them 60 days to fix what the state calls legal violations before filing suit.
- The dispute centers on an April agreement in which the Interior agreed to terminate Golden State Wind’s Morro Bay lease and pay about $120 million while requiring the company to invest an equal amount in fossil‑fuel projects outside California.
- California alleges the deal breaks the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act by cutting the state out of required federal leasing processes and seeks judicial review of the administration’s authority to cancel leases this way.
- State officials say the buyout jeopardizes more than $100 million in state spending on ports, transmission and supply‑chain readiness, threatens local jobs tied to offshore wind, and undermines California’s 25 GW by 2045 target.
- The Morro Bay buyout is part of a larger pattern that has cost roughly $2.6 billion in federal payouts to end leases, has drawn subpoenas for settlement documents, and raises contested claims about national‑security reasons and use of federal settlement funds.