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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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Not if Gibson and Dantona get their way.


14

Does this mean the Avila industrial port CET backed away from recently is moot?


How much in state and federal dollars have been expended on the industrial port proposal Lichtig, attorneys, consultants and politicians have been pushing? Where is the accounting?


26

Lest we not forget the 30 million the State (taxpayers) just spent on the Avila Drive Roundabout. 100% planned to accommodate the projected industrialization of the port , quietly brought to you by our political “ leaders”.

Gotta love it!


4

Eph of Sierra Club and all of you other green scam imbeciles.


Go hug a tree and get off of this wind energy bee s.


Signed,

Multi-generational and still native Californian


32

I feel that so much time is being wasted in supporting and attacking natural energy sources. I would like to see us focus that same attention and “energy” toward development and support for fusion for nuclear power. I am not a nuclear scientist but I do believe that fusion provides what we need and minimizes the risk.


12

See TMTG + TAE in regards to that very topic.


1

While I am no fan of dopey offshore wind , calling it a “security threat “ is a bit of a stretch.

Espionage, sabotage, and cybersecurity threats?

…..Hmmm…

How about being honest and focusing on windfarms as a colossal waste of money and time that will never pay for itself and destroy the local environment for zero impact on so- called Climate Change.

No honest intellectual argument supporting them is possible now. The elite proponents of this whole narrative have fallen- off , chasing the newest unicorn- AI

The Truth is: Climate and the weather aren’t “broken” . Human activity didn’t break it – indeed

“breaking “ or “ fixing” it , is utterly beyond our control.

Windfarms are exhibit A of people just trying to sell stuff to other people. Period.

Note to Sierra Club from a former member:

We aren’t going to be “ weaning “ anybody off fossil fuel any time soon – like it or not. Take a spin down highway 101 any day and you get my drift. Sorry.

The modern industrial world and the things people want are built on it . That is not changing any time soon.

The transition- when we can afford it – will be to nuclear. Sorry – thems the breaks!


29

For many years, my wife and I—longtime Kennedy Democrats in Paso Robles—have been supporters and members of the Sierra Club. We deeply appreciated the organization’s long history in the spirit of John Muir.


Over the last 20 years, however, the Sierra Club has become little more than a front for corporate interests that have co-opted the political clout the club holds with many voters.


Their unyielding support of offshore wind and the misinformation they’ve spread is a classic example. I hold a PhD in chemical engineering, and my wife is a retired legal expert. Trump drives us mad. But like many of you, we are taking a stand.


Offshore wind is factually not providing “clean energy jobs and affordable, clean electricity,” as claimed by the club’s legislative director Melinda Pierce. The reality is the opposite.


The jobs created will come from industrial ports run on gas-powered engines, 1,100-foot turbines made from high-strength fiberglass and carbon fiber that cannot be properly recycled, and an energy source that the U.S. Department of Energy (and other academic institutions) has clearly identified as one of the most expensive in the world today. Those costs will be passed on to ratepayers through dramatically higher electrical bills.


The only winners will be the international investors funding these projects. These investors don’t care about jobs, the environment, or this region. They don’t care what the investment is—offshore wind, diamonds, oil, rubber, coffee beans, or solar panels.


They hide behind layers of LLCs and banks that obscure their true identities.


What they see is a long-term investment with guaranteed tax breaks, subsidies, and financial gain.


We know some of these investors personally, and they laugh behind our backs—at the local college students buying into this narrative and at the local reporters covering it.


The tragic part is that once this overpriced industrial blight is approved, there will be no turning back. Future developers will be able to build along our coastline with high-intensity development never seen before, as these ports will set the precedent for future generations.


Some of you know who our family is, and many readers of Cal Coast News would not support our views on MAGA and Trump. However, we stand firm against this project and are deeply angered by the lies perpetuated by the Sierra Club.


Please stop offshore wind along our Central Coast.


60

#NEVERVoteDemoNcratAgain


That alone is going to MAGA.


#WAKEUP


American Patriot #Hispanics4Trump and #Hispanics4TRUERepublicans!


3

Years ago my family was very active with the Sierra Club as they represented the preservation of open space and environmental causes. Today they are nothing more than a sell out to corporate interest of dishonestly.


Offshore wind is not “affordable clean energy” it is one of the most expensive forms of energy production (U.S. Dept of Energy) on the planet and is at the expense of small coastal communities such as in our county.


As someone who spent years working in physics, I have studied this issue for many years professionally and have found that the only people who are benefiting form this are the international investors who could care less about the environment and see this a a guaranteed income stream for the next 30 years all on the backs of Calfiornia rate payers.


When they say that ocean wind farms have not reached the economy of scale, that means that it is overpriced. The only jobs that will be created are jobs for the international businesses that are building and installing these 1100 foot ecological disasters.


Sadly, the CalPoly students are being hoodwinked with fancy websites and do not understand what they are doing to this region. The industrial ports required to maintain this high-priced environmental disaster will cause a cancer of industrial development along pour coastline that we can never turn back.


As most people know, I am a Paso Dem along with my wife and Trump drives us mad. However I will not turn a blind eye to what is right. Let us hope that our communities can’t prevent this from happening and people wake up to this fraud called the Sierra Club.


Please stop offshore wind.


40

Bravo!


41

This floating windmill farm has got to be the worst idea in the history of ideas.


The cons far outweigh the pro’s on a massive scale.


54

Don’t forget the low-speed train to nowhere.


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