Are plans for wind energy farms off Morro Bay in peril?

December 22, 2025

Floating windmill designs

By KAREN VELIE

Based on national security concerns, the Trump administration suspended leases of all off-shore wind farms currently under construction in the United States, the Department of the Interior announced Monday. The pause provides the Department of War time to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by the projects.

Movements from the massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called “clutter,” according to unclassified government reports. Clutter obscures moving targets and generates false targets in areas near off-shore wind farms.

“Due to national security concerns identified by the Department of War, the Department of the Interior is pausing leases for five expensive, unreliable, heavily subsidized offshore wind farms,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum posted on X. “One natural gas pipeline supplies as much energy as these five projects combined. President Donald Trump is bringing common sense back to energy policy and putting security first!”

In 2022, the federal government auctioned off three offshore wind energy sites located between 20 and 30 miles off the coast near Morro Bay. Locals then formed REACT Alliance, a nonprofit with a mission to protect California’s Central Coast from the “destructive impacts of offshore wind energy development.”

On Nov. 4, on behalf of REACT Alliance, attorney Saro Rizzo sent Burgum a letter asking him to cancel the leases off the coast of San Luis Obispo County because of potential dangers to national security. Rizzo described the proposed wind farms’ close proximity to Vandenberg Space Force Base and Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

Rizzo’s letter to Burgum included the following:

“Based on recent reports and investigations into similar projects, ownership structures involving entities from the the People’s Republic of China in proximity to U.S. military installations have been identified as a critical national security threat.

“The national security risks associated with this partial foreign ownership include, but are
not limited to:

“1. Intelligence and espionage: Control of infrastructure near a sensitive military installation like Vandenberg could provide opportunities for intelligence gathering, surveillance, and espionage by the PRC.

“2. Infrastructure sabotage: The installation could be used to facilitate physical or cyber sabotage, threatening the reliability of U.S. military operations and the broader energy grid.

“3. Signal and radar interference: Wind turbines and their associated infrastructure are known to interfere with military radar and communication systems, which is particularly concerning for a space launch complex and missile test range like Vandenberg. Concerns about interference with detection systems have been raised regarding other wind projects, prompting national security assessments.

“4. Supply chain cybersecurity vulnerabilities: Foreign-made components in the wind turbines introduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities and could be exploited to compromise the project’s integrity, creating backdoors for foreign adversaries.”

According to the Department of Interior, the five leases impacted by the pause are located on the East Coast: Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, CVOW-Commercial, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind.

The suspension of leases of wind farms currently under construction does not directly impact the leases off San Luis Obispo County. However, because of the proximity to Vandenberg Space Force Base, a major aerospace hub, national security concerns may derail plans for wind energy farms off the Central Coast of California.

“On behalf of REACT Alliance, we commend Secretary Doug Burgum’s Dec. 22 decision to suspend five major East Coast offshore wind leases due to critical national security risks identified by the Department of Defense,” REACT Alliance said in a statement. “We now look forward to the immediate suspension or permanent cancellation of the five California offshore wind leases—particularly the three Morro Bay leases whose proximity to Vandenberg Space Force Base poses the same severe threats to radar operations and national defense.”

As a strong supporter of wind energy, the Sierra Club argues that “wind energy plays an important role in fighting climate change and weaning us off fossil fuels.”

“The Trump administration’s vengeance towards renewable energy knows no end,” said Melinda Pierce, the Sierra Club’s legislative director. “Instead of progressing us forward as a nation, they are obsessed with attacking a growing industry that provides good clean energy jobs and affordable, clean electricity. Americans need cheaper and more reliable energy that does not come at the expense of our health and futures.”

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