Business
Defying Trump, California continues to bet big on offshore wind
While the Trump administration takes extraordinary measures to halt the development of offshore wind power in the United States, Southern California is advancing a $4.7-billion plan to deploy hundreds of towering wind turbines in waters off the state’s coast.
The proposed Pier Wind project at the Port of Long Beach is a 400-acre terminal for the positioning, storage and assembly of some of the world’s largest offshore wind turbines, which would be towed north to federal wind lease areas some 20 miles off Morro and Humboldt bays.
Offshore wind is a key climate solution and officials say the project is crucial to helping California reach its goal of 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045. The Port of Long Beach is one of only two areas primed for the assembly work; the other is Humboldt Harbor near Eureka. The port will create the land for the project through a massive dredge-and-fill operation in the water.
This is the second in an occasional series on the state of the energy transition in California amid opposition from the Trump administration.
California’s approach is to push forward with offshore wind preparations that fall within its jurisdiction, readying the ports and the power grid to eventually take on electricity from 1,000 turbines in federal waters. The aim is to wait out the current administration, which is notoriously hostile toward a form of renewable energy that is booming elsewhere in the world.
“We’re just moving forward with all the things in our control because the port infrastructure has a long lead time,” said Suzanne Plezia, managing director of engineering services with the Port of Long Beach, on a recent catamaran ride around the harbor’s cranes and cargo towers. The work is supposed to be completed within a decade.
“We’re in it for the long haul because we do believe offshore wind is part of our energy future,” she said.
The state’s work is in some way an act of defiance against the Trump administration, which has taken more than two dozen actions against offshore wind power since the president’s second term began in January 2025, including canceling half a billion dollars in funding for port preparations in Humboldt.
Most recently, the White House struck a series of unprecedented deals with energy companies that held offshore wind leases in federal waters, paying them nearly $2 billion to abandon their plans and instead invest in U.S. oil and gas projects. Wind lease areas are stretches of ocean designated by the U.S. government for potential offshore wind development.
One of those deals was with Golden State Wind, which held one of the five leases off the coast of California. State officials are investigating that deal, including a subpoena from the California Energy Commission seeking details about the payout.
“The operative word is not ‘resist’ — it’s ‘create,’ ” California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild told hundreds of attendees at the Pacific Offshore Wind Summit in Long Beach recently.
A rendering of the proposed Pier Wind project at the Port of Long Beach.
(Port of Long Beach)
Among them were regulators, lawmakers, investors and industry representatives from the U.S. and abroad who said they remain optimistic about offshore wind’s prospects and vowed to keep to their plans. They point to the United Kingdom, where nearly one-fifth of electricity generation now comes from offshore wind.
But the question of whether President Trump’s actions are succeeding at slowing California and U.S. progress also percolated throughout the summit.
Much of the uncertainty surrounds financing, whether investors still see offshore wind as a smart place to put money.
“We are asking ourselves, do we want to do offshore wind at all?” said Sean Boyd, executive director of EY Parthenon, an arm of Ernst & Young that advises investors and companies, during a panel discussion.
While California is still moving toward its 2045 target, it is not on track to meet its 2030 goal of 2 to 5 gigawatts of offshore wind.
Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom released about half of a $475-million tranche of Proposition 4 funding for offshore wind projects, but has so far not released the rest. The latest draft of Newsom’s 2026-27 budget would defer the remaining $241 million to a future year — and by default, a future governor.
But California’s efforts are also unprecedented. While much of the world’s offshore wind power is affixed to the seafloor, including off the East Coast of the U.S., the turbines off California will need to float because the ocean here is much deeper. The state’s planned lease areas are between 1,600 and 4,200 feet, far deeper than any other floating wind farms in the world.
“There’s an awful lot of risk in first-of-a-kind technology,” said Boyd. “But the single biggest fundamental risk that runs through all of this is the market risk. Is there a long-term floating offshore wind market in California?”
Many state officials say the answer is unequivocally yes.
“California cannot allow this instability in Washington to derail our long-term climate and energy goals,” said Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles). “We have to continue planning, we have to continue investing, we have to continue building, because offshore wind remains one of the most important tools we have.”
The Trump administration has turned offshore wind into a political football, describing the technology as “doomed” and a threat to national security that is restricting U.S. energy dominance. Trump argues offshore wind is costly and intermittent because it relies on the wind to blow.
But experts say it is meant to be part of a robust clean energy portfolio, complementing other renewable sources, such as solar power and battery energy storage. Many supporters are biding their time until the next election.
“Will offshore wind exist in California and the United States?” asked Jim Lanard, co-founder and chief executive of developer Magellan Wind. “I say resoundingly yes — and it will take off very quickly in 2029.”
Some of the state’s residents are opposed, however, including members of the San Luis Obispo-based REACT Alliance, which sees offshore wind as a threat to coastal communities and the marine environment. The group said it lobbied the Trump administration to make its deal with Golden State Wind, and it is now urging Equinor, another of the leaseholders, to strike a similar agreement and walk away from its plans off the Central Coast.
Other groups, including local tribes and environmental justice organizations, are watching the state’s efforts closely for potential effects such as sediment disruption and erosion, changes in whale migration and pollution from construction. Wilmington, Carson and other communities around the Port of Long Beach already face some of the worst air quality in the region.
But many offshore wind believers say the train has already left the station. Globally, the market is continuing to grow rapidly, led by China, which installed 6.6 gigawatts of new offshore wind capacity in 2025, bringing its cumulative total to 48.4 gigawatts, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.
Some said the need for the technology will only increase as artificial intelligence data centers drive energy demand, along with soaring electricity costs and constrained oil supplies from the war with Iran.
“This is a pivotal moment for energy,” said Noel Hacegaba, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach. “Rising fuel costs are sharpening the case for domestically produced power and for energy independence. … This is renewable energy’s moment.”
The enthusiasm was apparent as the catamaran bobbed around the future site of Pier Wind, which recently received a $20-million grant from the California Energy Commission. The plans include a large wharf with a staging area for the turbine components, plus a “wet storage” area for the assembled units in the water waiting to be towed away, among other elements.
Depending on the final specifications, Pier Wind would be able to assemble one or two turbines per week, each as tall as the Eiffel Tower and capable of generating 20 to 25 megawatts of wind power. Once towed to the lease areas up the coast, their electricity would flow back to land via floating underwater cables and, ultimately, tied into the state’s main grid.
“The world is watching to see what California does next,” Hacegaba said.
The chemical leak that triggered evacuations across a swath of Orange County on Friday is located at GKN Aerospace, a manufacturing company based in the United Kingdom.
A leading aerospace firm
The company manufactures landing gears, jet engines and other materials for commercial and military aircraft.
GKN Aerospace’s Garden Grove facility, which sits on 15.5 acres on Western Avenue, designs, analyzes, tests and certifies military canopies, cockpit windows and passenger windows, according to its website.
The company has been at the site since 2004, according to city documents.
“GKN Aerospace manufactures the world-leading F-35 canopy from its Garden Grove facility, as well as transparencies for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 737, the Airbus A350, HondaJet and Bombardier C-Series,” the company’s website states.
What company is saying
A spokesperson for GKN Aerospace told The Times on Friday that they are responding to the situation and working with fire crews and specialized hazardous materials teams.
“There are no reports of injuries at this time, and our priority remains the safety of our employees, responders, and the surrounding community,” the spokesperson said. “The situation at our Garden Grove site remains ongoing, and we are fully focused on working with emergency services and the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of our employees and the local community.”
The problem
There are three large tanks with a highly toxic chemical called methyl methacrylate, or MMA, used to make plastic, at the site in the 12000 block of Western Avenue in Garden Grove.
One tank that officials have said is “in crisis” has about 7,000 gallons of the chemical left in it. It started experiencing a rise in temperatures on Thursday, which triggered temporary evacuations. But fire crews were called out to the site again on Friday.
Craig Covey, a division chief with the Orange County Fire Authority and the incident commander, described two possible scenarios for the tank during a news conference on Friday afternoon.
“One, it fails and cracks, and all the product leaks out onto the ground,” Covey said, and efforts are underway to try to prevent the liquid from “getting into the storm drains and the river channels and into our oceans.”
Or, it will explode, he said.
Officials have been working to come up with what Covey said were “out of the box” ideas to prevent as much damage as possible.
“Our group is going to do everything they can to come up with a third, a fourth, a fifth option,” he said.
OSHA inspections
The company’s Garden Grove facility has undergone four inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration since 2018, which resulted in 10 violations, public records show.
More information about those violations was not immediately available.
In 2019, the California Department of Industrial Relations filed a request in Orange County Superior Court that a judge order the company to pay $2,898 in unpaid civil penalties.
The citation, outlined in court records, alleged the company in April 2018 “failed to ensure that all machinery and equipment in service were inspected or maintained as recommended by the manufacturer.”
The company also received a violation for allegedly failing to “implement and effective written injury and illness prevention program” in accordance with state law.
It doesn’t appear that any of the violations were related to the tanks at the center of Friday’s incident.
The documents do not say how the company responded to the inspection reports.
“Safety at our facilities is paramount,” a GKN spokesperson said in response to questions from The Times. “We follow all standard safety protocols and processes and are regularly audited by numerous state and federal agencies.”
“Our focus and priority today is on working with emergency services and the relevant authorities to address the issue at hand and protect the local community,” the spokesperson added.
This year the company sought permission from the Garden Grove planning commission to construct a new employee break room on the site. The plans included the construction of a new 1,504 square-foot building, a roof deck and an open-air patio, according to city documents.
Questions from officials
Congressman Derek Tran, an Orange County Democrat, said Friday night that he had spoken with the leadership of GKN Aerospace and had “urged the company to take full responsibility for the panic and disruption that tens of thousands of residents are currently experiencing.”
“We agreed the priority is the safety of the community and addressing the urgent crisis at hand,” Tran wrote in a post on social media.
“I’m continuing to work with emergency personnel to ensure that residents are safe and have the resources they need while officials work to mitigate the impacts of the hazmat incident.”
Hotel rooms in Los Angeles and other FIFA World Cup host cities could sit empty, despite high expectations that the global sporting event would be a boon to the city.
The soccer tournament, which has sold more than 5 million tickets so far, has historically triggered a surge of international and domestic tourism and infused host cities with an economic boost.
This year, however, 80% of hotels surveyed by the American Hotel and Lodging Assn. said bookings are lagging behind initial forecasts. The hotel association partly blames FIFA for the slowdown, saying the organization overbooked blocks of hotel rooms that did not reflect true demand.
Travel also is being hampered by higher airfares and gas prices due to the conflict in Iran. Visa barriers and broader geopolitical concerns are suppressing international travel demand, the report said.
“With just two months until kickoff, indicators suggest the anticipated economic lift may fall short of expectations,” the report said. The number of tickets sold for the tournament “has not yet translated into strong hotel bookings.”
In L.A., where World Cup games will be played next month at SoFi stadium, more than 65% of hotel respondents said room bookings were below estimated demand.
Many respondents said bookings were even lagging behind that of a typical summer.
Visitors enter a hallway at the Hotel Figueroa downtown on Friday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Hotels in Los Angeles cited visa complications and long distances from the venue as obstacles to bookings. According to the report, FIFA booked thousands of rooms in downtown Los Angeles that it canceled.
Ahead of all World Cup tournaments, FIFA places large blocks of rooms on hold across various properties for FIFA staff, mediaand other stakeholders. As the tournament draws closer, FIFA will adjust its plans based on demand.
“All room releases were conducted in line with contractually agreed timelines with hotel partners, a standard practice for an event of this scale,” a FIFA spokesperson said in a statement. “Throughout the planning process, FIFA’s Accommodations team maintained consistent discussions with hotel stakeholders.”
The spokesperson added that global demand for the 2026 World Cup is unprecedented.
“FIFA room block over-commitment created an artificial early demand signal that has since unraveled,” the hotel association report said. “Many hotels indicate that early booking signals overstated true demand.”
About half of hotel respondents reported cancellations or releases of previously booked blocks of rooms, the report said.
The staggering price of World Cup tickets this year could also be keeping away fans, said journalist and author Simon Kuper, who writes about soccer economics. Face values for tickets have climbed as high as $7,875.
“All the ticket prices in this World Cup are inconceivable for previous World Cups,” Kuper said. “It’s very much a new phenomenon.”
FIFA is projecting revenue between $11 billion and $13 billion for the four-year World Cup cycle, which ends when the tournament does.
Nonetheless, L.A. is expecting a major jump in tourism for the World Cup in June and the 2028 Olympic Games.
That would be welcome for an industry that is coming off some tough times.
Last year, tourist spending in L.A. fell for the first time since the pandemic began as wildfires, raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and trade tensions discouraged people from visiting, including tourists from Canada who traditionally flock to Palm Springs and other cities in Southern California during the winter months.
A visitor walks under a display of hats in the lobby of the Hotel Indigo on Friday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
International air arrivals to L.A. County fell more than 30% from August to November of 2025. In Los Angeles, current international arrivals are fewer than in previous months, though the state saw an overall 3% increase last year.
The L.A. market “faces several challenges that are tempering hotel performance expectations,” said Ralph Posner, chief communications officer for the American Hotel and Lodging Assn.
“L.A.’s purported hotel underperformance is compounded by a unique combination of early FIFA block over-commitment creating artificial demand, concerns about visa barriers and operating costs,” he said. “The market was positioned as a flagship host city but is now absorbing a gap between expectation and reality.”
Surging hotel room costs in host cities are also a deterrent. For example, the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle, within walking distance of Lumen Field, is renting a King guest room for less than $300 the weekend before the World Cup. For the weekend of the U.S. game there, the rate is more than $1,000 for the same room.
To save costs, some fans are choosing to stay farther from the venues or opting for alternative lodgings such as Airbnbs. Airbnb’s chief financial officer said the World Cup is expected to be the largest event in the company’s history.
The hotel association said that even though initial indications are bad, things could still get better.
“We are hopeful that momentum will build over the next few weeks in the lead up to the games,” Posner said.
Times staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.
Waymo said that it’s pausing its robotaxi services on freeways in the U.S. as it updates its software to improve performance around construction zones and flooded roads.
Before the suspension, freeway operations were available in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami. The company said that street and other off-highway operations of Waymos will continue.
The company first confirmed the temporary pause to Reuters, and said that it was working to integrate recent technical learnings into software and expects to resume these routes soon.
“We are committed to being good neighbors for our riders and our communities. As part of that commitment, we make proactive decisions including temporarily pausing aspects of our service. We know riders count on us to get around, and we appreciate their patience as we work to get them where they’re going safely and reliably,” a Waymo spokesperson said in an email statement.
The company also paused operations in Atlanta, after a Waymo stopped in flood water. In early May, about 3,800 of Waymos autonomous taxis were recalled after a software defect caused some vehicles to drive into flooded roadways.
The suspension comes at a time when the Alphabet-backed company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., has increased its pace of expansion into a number of new cities in the U.S. and across the globe, and getting them on freeways and local airports is important for expansion.
Competitors Tesla and Zoox have been playing catchup but don’t match the scale of Waymo yet.
The company said it has collected 170 million autonomous miles, with 13 times fewer injury-causing collisions compared with human drivers in the routes they operate in.
Waymo said it provides 500,000 trips every week, and aims to cross 1 million paid rides per week by 2026. While most Waymo models in use are Jaguar SUVs, it recently began testing a Chinese model Zeekr called Ojai in Los Angeles.
Waymo did not cite a specific instance that prompted the most recent recall, but the company has been forced to pause operations to improve software in several Southern states that have been hit by flash floods, including Texas, Tennessee and Georgia.
In 2025, Waymo recalled more than 1,200 vehicles due to a software defect resulting in minor crashes against obstacles in the road. Earlier this year, it faced renewed scrutiny after hitting a child outside a school in Santa Monica and running over a cat in San Francisco.
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