Elected Officials Outraged After Developer Vacates Humboldt Offshore Wind Lease | Lost Coast Outpost
Photo via Principle Power. A 9.5-megawatt floating wind turbine off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland
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The latest offshore wind lease ended due to pressure from the Trump Administration is a site off Humboldt Bay, a deal that has drawn ire from North Coast elected officials.
The Trump administration will pay German energy company RWE $1.22 billion to vacate three leases, off the coasts of Eureka, New York and Louisiana, in a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The local lease is one of two sites in federal waters off Humboldt Bay that was auctioned off to energy developers.
The settlement follows a concerted effort by the Trump Administration to halt or stymie offshore wind projects across the country, met with lawsuits from developers.
The administration has bought back leases from several companies, with costs the Associated Press has totaled at over $4 billion.
RWE said the company invested over $1 billion and years of planning across three leases and their respective projects.
“After careful consideration, it was determined there is no path forward to permit these projects in the U.S. for the foreseeable future,” RWE said in a press release.
“The company determined that this resolution best serves the interests of its stakeholders and allows it to direct resources toward energy projects that can be advanced with certainty.”
Similar to other energy companies, RWE pointed to investments in natural gas in their press release, something celebrated by officials in the Trump Administration.
“Americans deserve an energy system built on common sense, not one dependent on costly subsidies or technologies that can’t meet our country’s current demand,” DOI Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.
“We welcome RWE’s agreement and voluntary investment in projects that strengthen our nation’s energy security, provide dependable baseload power and help keep electricity affordable for hardworking Americans today while supporting our country’s long-term energy future,” he said.
But Democratic elected officials who represent Humboldt County are pissed off by the settlement.
“The most corrupt, lawless administration in American history is once again flouting the law and attempting to use over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to kill off clean energy projects slated to create thousands of good jobs and lower electricity bills for Californians,” Rep. Jared Huffman said in a statement.
“One of the projects illegally canceled in this fake settlement is off the coast of Humboldt County in my district. The benefits of that project were tremendous — revitalizing the economy of a rural community, creating thousands of quality jobs, and lowering utility bills for families all across California. Like a mob boss, Trump tightened the screws on RWE and, shamefully, the company capitulated and went along with this sham deal that robs the American people and makes a mockery of RWE’s stated commitments to clean energy. When these illegal, fake settlements are reversed by the courts and/or future congressional action — and they will be — RWE and others who participate in these charades will own every bit of the shame they deserve,” he said.
“The deals are deeply corrupt and illegal. When the accountability comes, and I promise you accountability is coming, everyone involved in them will answer for it,” he said.
State representatives involved in supporting the project in Humboldt County, poised to boost California’s renewable energy goals, were similarly unhappy.
“While RWE’s shareholders get their bag, the rest of us get the finger,” said Assemblymember Chris Rogers, in a statement from a spokesperson. “We the people are paying for this buyout, and what we get in return is more expensive energy, backwards climate policy, and greater harm to our communities.”
“The Trump Administration is again using taxpayer dollars to settle personal vendettas and line the pockets of his friends and donors by protecting oil profiteers from the competition of clean, affordable, and renewable energy. Every American should be enraged.”
State Senator Mike McGuire said the action is “utter BS.”
“The overall California RWE wind project would have advanced clean, reliable wind energy—enough to power for 5 million-homes—and created good rural jobs for the North Coast. Seemingly ripped from a script of VEEP, Trump is now forcing RWE’s hand to reinvest in the same fossil fuels which delivered the climate crisis to our door. This is yet another example of how off the rails the Trump Administration has gone. Total buffoonery,” he said in a statement from a spokesperson.
The state of California has goals to reach a 100% zero-carbon electricity grid, with offshore wind representing a key piece in delivering the goal of 25,000 megawatts by 2045.
After the federal government cancelled an over $400 million grant to develop the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Multipurpose Marine Terminal, an essential piece of infrastructure that would be used to assemble and deploy wind turbines, the state has filled the hole with funding of its own.
Humboldt Bay Harbor District Executive Director Chris Mikkelsen told the Outpost the district will continue forward with plans to develop the terminal, a project in the environmental review stage.
“We’re operating under very strong direction under the state of California,” he said.
While it’s too soon to say how exactly the end of one lease will effect the terminal, he remains optimistic. It’s possible the projects can be scaled smaller, he said, or built over time as the appetite grows and communities get more comfortable with the prospect. Maybe the timeline will be stretched out five years.
“One president can’t change the demand for energy that we as Americans have. We know we have to get energy from new sources,” he said.
“The winners today are the fossil fuel industry and the losers are Humboldt County and the planet,” said Tom Wheeler, executive director of Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center, in a statement.
“But tomorrow is a new day. The Trump Administration will end. And the promise of offshore wind remains: clean, reliable energy built locally by well-paying blue collar jobs. The Trump Administration can delay but it cannot suppress the future,” he said.
