Non-Local, Fossil Fuel-Backed Groups Attempt to Block Green Offshore Wind Terminal

Matt Simmons
Aug 5
3 min read

Updated: Aug 7

On June 17th, 2025 Canary Media reported that several anti-offshore wind groups—some with known ties to the fossil fuel industry—asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to cancel the $426 million federal INFRA grant for the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District’s (District) offshore wind heavy lift marine terminal project. The money, which can only be received once the District has completed environmental permitting and secured matching funds, would be used to construct the West Coast’s first offshore wind staging and integration terminal. While individual turbine components would be manufactured in many different locations, a staging and integration terminal acts as their final destination before they are all put together and the turbine is towed out to sea. The grant would also pay for community benefits such as remediation of the existing contaminated site, a new trail, and a community benefit program. According to analyses by the state and federal governments, Humboldt Bay is particularly well suited for a staging and integration terminal because there is no manmade obstruction blocking the mouth of the Bay.

In their letter, the groups—none of which are based in Humboldt—falsely stated that the project was ineligible for the grant and argued that it was not in the public interest. Legacy environmental nonprofits like the Sierra Club, Audubon, NRDC, SLO Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, Environment California, Nature Conservancy, and others believe that responsibly developing the offshore wind industry is in the public interest because it is essential to decarbonizing our electricity supply and fighting climate change. Local environmental and community groups have successfully advocated for the terminal to use state-of-the-art technology to reduce emissions and protect the Bay and nearby communities. So, who are these out-of-the-area, anti-offshore wind groups who disagree?

While some opposition to offshore wind stems from genuine concerns about impacts to the environment, the fishing industry, or cultural resources, other opposition is more nefarious. Fossil fuel companies see offshore wind as competition to their industry and have long sought creative ways to stymie offshore wind projects. In Trump’s recently passed bill, for instance, fossil fuel groups successfully lobbied for an end to renewable energy subsidies while creating new subsidies for oil and gas projects. One such strategy involves fossil fuel interests funding climate denial and anti-offshore wind groups who raise environmental concerns that are not backed by scientific evidence. Brown University has created a map of these groups and their links to fossil fuel interests on the East Coast, and it seems that their influence is spreading to the West Coast as well.

Image source: Climate and Development Lab, Brown University, Against the Wind (2023). climatedevlab.brown.edu

Among the signees of the letter is Craig Rucker, President of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). CFACT is a well-known climate denial group that downplays the impacts of climate change and argues that we should not transition to renewable energy. According to the research group DeSmog, CFACT has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from fossil-fuel groups over the years. Another signee, David Wojick, senior advisor at CFACT is also an analyst at the right-wing Heartland Institute and a climate denier with historic links to the fossil fuel industry. It’s not just fossil fuel interests looking to kill the offshore wind industry: another signee, Gene Nelson, is Senior Legal Researcher and President at Californians for Green Nuclear Power, a group trying to delay the closure of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant by opposing competing energy sources. These groups have teamed up with anti-offshore wind activists from the Central Coast, known as Responsible Energy Adaptation for California's Transition (REACT) Alliance, to oppose all offshore wind projects in California.

Besides attacking sources of funding for offshore wind, these groups have also spread disinformation about the impacts of offshore wind by falsely claiming, for instance, that offshore wind kills whales. Don’t be tricked by their lies. To date, there is no scientific evidence that offshore wind is responsible for even a single whale death. Climate change, the environmental harm that offshore wind is being developed to mitigate, is a far greater threat to marine mammals. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t design offshore wind projects without monitoring and protection in place out of caution, but it does mean that we shouldn’t be spreading false information about the risks. As these out-of-the-area groups try to influence the development of the offshore wind industry in Humboldt Bay and offshore, I urge you to keep their ulterior motives in mind.