California sues Department of the Interior over Golden State Wind buyout 

The Attorney General said the deal uses taxpayer money to pay off the companies and abandon their offshore wind leases in favour of out-of-state oil and gas investments.

In June 2026, Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Energy Commission (CEC) chair David Hochschild sent a Notice of Intent to Sue to the Department of the Interior (DOI) on 23 June 2026, noting that the ‘illegal agreement’ puts at risk California’s clean energy gains, thousands of high-quality jobs, and more than US$100M in public investments in the offshore wind industry, including voter-approved climate funds.

Golden State Wind’s departure costs California an estimated US$30M in workforce and other economic investments, as well as thousands of jobs for which workers were already training.

California’s lawsuit states that the agreements violate the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and threaten the state’s offshore wind development plans, clean energy goals, and significant public investments in the sector. 

The suit also alleges the US$120M payout was a wrongful use of the Judgment Fund, which is only meant to compensate parties to resolve an existing lawsuit. In his initial release, Bonta called the deal a ‘fabricated arrangement.’

Public support for offshore wind remains strong in California. Polling shows that 76% of Californians support offshore wind development off the state’s coast, including 69% of California Republicans.

“The Trump Administration’s backroom buyout with Golden State Wind to stop offshore wind development in favour of gas and oil drilling is, unfortunately, a classic playbook for them to line the pockets of their Big Oil donors,” said Attorney General Bonta.

“Let’s be clear. California will continue to aggressively fight back against the Trump administration’s outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars to abandon offshore wind investments that could have delivered union-paying jobs and reliable clean energy to Californians.” 

“Offshore wind presents an opportunity for our state to scale up an innovative new clean energy industry that reduces pollution while providing new jobs and investment for the people of our state,” said Mr Hochschild.

“We will not let the Trump administration’s reckless actions turn back the clock. California’s clean energy future is worth fighting for. See you in court.”