California Sues Trump Over Offshore Wind Lease Buyout

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission filed a 54-page federal lawsuit on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, challenging a $765 million buyback of four offshore wind leases held by Invenergy, including the $111 million Even Keel Wind project off Morro Bay. The filing marks California's second legal challenge against the Trump administration's offshore wind lease buyouts, with another lawsuit looming. The deal, announced in June, covers leases in the New York Bight, California's Central Coast and the Gulf of Maine. Under the agreement, Invenergy would redirect the money to other energy projects, including natural gas power plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, as well as geothermal projects in the West. The Even Keel Wind project had lease rights covering more than 80,000 acres off the Central California coast. California's complaint alleges the buyout violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Judgment Fund Act by structuring the deal as a settlement for litigation Invenergy never filed, a maneuver the state says was designed to bypass statutory caps on lease cancellation payouts.