Locals protest wind energy projects off the coast of Morro Bay

January 19, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

A group of approximately 250 people on Saturday protested the three wind energy projects proposed off the coast of Morro Bay and the associated impacts. With signs seeking to support the whales, fisherman and our way of life, people protested near Morro Rock.

The National Offshore-wind Opposition Alliance (NOOA) sponsored the nationwide event. The alliance is a one issue collation made up of environmental, fishing and community organizations, tribal nations and groups like San Luis Obispo County’s REACT Alliance.

REACT Alliance is a nonprofit, non-partisan volunteer organization that opposes the proposed offshore wind projects off the coast of Morro Bay.

The event was focused on informing the incoming administration of the significant opposition to offshore wind from the east coast to the west coast and that his promise to end offshore wind must be kept. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end offshore wind energy projects his first day in office.

“We are going to make sure that that ends on day one,” Trump said during a campaign speech. “I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on day one.”

In Dec. 2022, an auction for three offshore wind energy sites located off the coast near Morro Bay netted over $400 million to the federal government. The plan is to have the wind turbines float in the ocean more than 20 miles off the coast, with the electricity sent ashore via cables along the ocean floor. The goal is to have the windmills in the water by 2030.

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