The US federal government's recent move to cancel offshore wind projects is drawing mounting legal and political backlash, with critics warning the campaign threatens the country's climate goals and its ability to meet surging long-term electricity demand driven by the rapid expansion of data centers.
California became the latest state to push back on Tuesday, with Attorney General Rob Bonta filing a notice of intent to sue the White House over a deal that canceled a major wind project off the state's coast.
The filing challenges an agreement signed between the Department of the Interior and Golden State Wind LLC, under which the company agreed to abandon a 2-gigawatt floating offshore wind project off California's central coast in exchange for reimbursement that will be redirected into fossil fuel investments.
The cancellation of the Golden State Wind project will harm the state's clean energy and climate goals and economy, as offshore wind is capable of generating vast amounts of electricity from strong, consistent winds off California's coast, said a news release from Bonta's office.
The cancellation threatens California's goal of developing 25 GW of offshore wind power by 2045, enough to supply roughly 13 percent of the state's electricity, according to the news release.
