What Do the Recent Lease Buyouts Mean for Wigi/Humboldt Bay’s Offshore Wind?

The second Trump Administration has continued to favor the fossil fuel industry over renewable energy. Its latest effort involves buying back offshore wind leases from offshore wind developers using federal tax dollars. As of August 28, 2026, three out of five of California’s offshore wind leases have been bought by the administration on the condition that the companies fund fossil fuel projects, and a geothermal project instead. RWE recently received $1.2 billion dollars to abandon its 3 leases, including $121 million (1) for the one located in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area. In the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area, Golden State Wind, a joint venture of Ocean Winds and Reventus Power, was offered $120 million (2) to end its lease and the Even Keel Wind project, owned by Invenergy, agreed to cancel its lease in exchange for $111 million (3). 

$900 million (10) of the returned $1.2 billion will be used by RWE to buy a stake in a Louisiana natural gas project. The stake is being purchased from Australian billionaire Michael Dorrell who donated $1 million (10) to Trump after his second term election, owns property near Mar-a-Lago, and has boasted about socializing with Trump’s inner circle.

On August 28th, the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit (6) against the Trump Administration, claiming it violated numerous laws in the Golden State Wind agreement. California argues the administration violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (4) which limits the ability to cancel offshore wind leases without following a specific, legally-mandated process. California also argues that the buyback violated the Judgement Fund Act (9) as the payment was not used to settle an existing lawsuit. California claims that not only did the administration not have the authority to use tax dollars unappropriated by Congress for the agreement, the cancellation of leases also affects California’s economy and clean energy goals. The Union of Concerned Scientists has prepared this explainer (8) of laws potentially broken by these settlement agreements. 

California has invested over $100 million into offshore wind, including $10.5 million (7) already spent to plan a turbine assembly terminal in Wigi/Humboldt Bay. California estimates that the five previously leased offshore wind projects would provide over 174k jobs (6), as well as power over 25 million homes (6) with clean energy. 

If successful, the Attorney General’s lawsuit would prevent the Trump Administration from cancelling the lease, require the return of the unlawful payment, if already made, and prevent the Trump Administration from entering similar agreements in regard to other California offshore wind leases. Despite setbacks from the Trump administration, local and State officials continue to plan (5) for renewable energy projects for the proposed marine terminal in alignment with California’s climate and energy goals.

References

1. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. (2026. August). Settlement Agreement Between the United States and Golden State Wind, LLC. https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/renewable-energy/state-activities/Golden%20State%20Settlement%20Agreement.pdf?VersionId=Eg8hs6CdhZslEPZVT2PtS9HMpHIRa1b3

2. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. (2026. August). Settlement Agreement Between the United States and Canopy Offshore Wind, LLC. https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/renewable-energy/state-activities/Fully%20Executed%20Settlement%20Agreement%20-%20Canopy.pdf?VersionId=7RrmVtJ2DW17nxhSerVvuClME9x3hxua

3. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. (2026. April). Settlement Agreement Between the United States and Invenergy, LLC. https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/renewable-energy/state-activities/Invenergy%20CA%20Settlement%20Agreement.pdf?VersionId=JweIK.RBJKIZw6QSe_4Ur1W49u.75M_W

4. Cornell Law School. 43 U.S. Code Chapter 29 Subchapter III - OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF LANDS. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/43/chapter-29/subchapter-III

5. Jefferson Public Radio. (2026, August). Humboldt County is Keeping its Offshore Wind Options Open. https://www.ijpr.org/environment-energy-and-transportation/2026-08-11/humboldt-county-offshore-wind-marine-terminal

6. Office of the Attorney General. (2026, August). Attorney General Bonta Announces Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Trump Administration Wind Deal. https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-announces-lawsuit-challenging-unlawful-trump

7. Times Standard. (2022, March). Harbor District Awarded $10.5m for Offshore Wind Prep Work. https://www.times-standard.com/2022/03/10/harbor-district-awarded-10-5m-for-offshore-wind-prep-work/

8. The Union of Concerned Scientists. (2026, August). Five Laws the Trump Administration’s Offshore Wind Buyouts May Have Broken. https://blog.ucs.org/john-rogers/five-laws-the-trump-administrations-offshore-wind-buyouts-may-have-broken/

9. US Code. 31 USC 1304: Judgments, awards, and compromise settlements. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:31%20section:1304%20edition:prelim)

10. The Washington Post. (2026, August). $900 million from a canceled wind deal will benefit a Trump donor. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/27/how-wind-projects-got-replaced-by-900-million-payday-trump-donors-firm/