Manipulation, Hype, and Floating Offshore Wind
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 4k 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 US”. 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 leasees and to pressure them into capitulating. Nothing could be farther from the truth! The reality is this, offshore wind in the US 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 (yes, i am talking about the CEC and the CCC) will mitigate.
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 CEC 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, they have, and chances are the other two leasees 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.
Let’s 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 CEC 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 the REACT Alliance (www.reactalliance.org) 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 on November 7 at the SLO Botanical Gardens at 2 p.m. 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
REACT Alliance
City Park Needs a Gazebo
I’m highly in favor of installing a gazebo at the Morro Bay city park. Gazebos serve as functional, aesthetic, and social anchor by their design, and benefit as a community gathering hub that provide an aesthetic and architectural anchor. Their classic geometry breaks up open lawns, add visual character, charm, and a sense of historic or deliberate landscape design to a park’s design.
I would add that any music event should be strictly acoustic, non-amplified. Morro Bay is popular as a welcoming, peaceful community, often accentuated by its rolling evening fog. Let’s promote that charm.
Pete Schroeder
Morro Bay
Employers Should Make AI Savings Pay
San Luis Obispo County already treats work itself as a training tool. Its on-the-job training program helps bridge skill gaps through work-based learning while reimbursing employers for part of the training cost.
AI should strengthen that model.
Stanford’s August 12 payroll update found employment among U.S. workers ages 22-25 in highly AI-exposed occupations about 19% below where it would be if it had kept pace with similarly aged workers in less-exposed occupations. The adjustment appears mainly through reduced hiring.
North Coast employers can turn AI time savings into a skill-transfer budget. Have experienced workers review junior employees’ AI-assisted work, explain exceptions, expose them to difficult customer cases, and debrief decisions that require context. Then track whether beginners reach independent competence faster. The strongest productivity gain is a workforce that learns more quickly as routine preparation shrinks.
Gleb Tsipursky, PhD
Columbus, Ohio
