Manipulation, hype and floating offshore windmills

August 24, 2026

Offshore wind energy protest in Morro Bay

OPINION by MANDY DAVIS

Sad to say, we are living in a time of incessant manipulation, subterfuge and downright hype at the hands of our politicians and their favorite corporate donors and glad-hand buddies. Here, in the land of “energy opportunity” the Central Coast of California, we have been the recipients and guinea pigs of political and corporate hype and it’s time that someone pointed the obvious out and just said no!

As many of you know, three of the companies holding offshore wind leases for future floating offshore wind development in California have backed out of their leases and taken a partial repayment of their lease monies and have promised to invest in other more immediate energy ventures.

They have all voluntarily and logically opted to back away from a lease that obviously held little opportunity for future investment return, and have collectively realized their folly and divested from a highly speculative industry based on technologies that have not yet been developed and proven (floating offshore turbines and sub stations in 4,000 depth water). Each and every one has been partially reimbursed for an unrealized project and have taken considerable losses in the process, and even one that has not yet taken the money and run, Equinor/Atlas Wind, has stated, “We have no plans to pursue further (new) offshore wind projects in the United States.

Still, our local pro-offshore wind California politicians – Salud CarbaJal, John Laird and Alex Padilla – have gotten their shorts all wadded up over this “disappointing” turn of events. In an effort to garner public outrage and make a “green hero’ of themselves they have publicly and vociferously railed against this lease fund return and have attempted to manipulate the public by claiming that the Trump administration was taking billions of taxpayer money to buy off the leases and to pressure them into capitulating.

Nothing could be farther from the truth!

The reality is this: Offshore wind in the United States is proving to be expensive, too speculative and fraught with all kinds of potential issues that no amount of public agency capitulation and state bias will mitigate.  Yes, I am talking about the California Energy Commission and the California Coastal Commission.

Additionally, even though offshore wind is finding fewer and fewer supporters in the upper echelon of our state political system, Padilla and his cronies California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild have initiated a costly lawsuit ($120 million) claiming the feds don’t have the legal right to refund the lease money.

They do and they have, and chances are the other two leases in California will go by the wayside soon. A bad investment made on incomplete and faulty information and a dependence on subsidies is just that – a bad investment.

Floating offshore wind has no future in this state.

Lets see clear to start letting our politicians know that we will not be manipulated by a misrepresentation of a situation and use of inflammatory politics to garner attention and support. It’s high time we let our state know that continued support for an industry dying a slow and excruciatingly painful death that will not provide the energy our state needs in the near future is unacceptable.

It’s time to tell our local politicians and the California Energy Commission to stop advocating for and issuing grants for ports to support a non-existent industry, as is the case with Port San Luis.

As engaged and informed citizens we can stop being manipulated by disingenuous politicians, exploitive labor leaders, clueless “environmental” NGOs, and greedy corporations and call them on their hype and hubris. Floating offshore wind will not work in California and it’s time they got a freaking clue!

Contact REACT Alliance for more information on this incredibly important issue. The future of our coastal communities, its pristine environment and beauty, and our thriving coastal economies are relying on your participation to stop offshore wind off our coast. To get even more crucial information, join us at 2 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the SLO Botanical Gardens for our forum – “It’s All Just Smoke and Mirrors…exposing the offshore wind hype.”

You have a voice. You have a choice!

Mandy Davis is the president of REACT Alliance and a Morro Bay resident. REACT Alliance is a local organization established to educate and inform the public about the issues involved with offshore wind.