Marine protection advocates are butting heads with offshore wind developers in California — a clash that could undermine President Joe Biden’s climate goals, while further splintering the environmentalists whose vote he’s counting on in November. Morro Bay, four hours south of San Francisco, is the planned location of California’s first offshore wind farm, which the state needs if it’s going to ramp up clean energy and reduce planet-warming pollution, writes Heather Richards. But the surrounding waters also brim with nutrients that support diverse marine life. The Northern Chumash band, an Indigenous tribe recognized by California, has been fighting for years to designate the area as a marine sanctuary. The Biden administration is expected to grant that designation this summer — a move the offshore wind industry says will block access to a key entryway to the power grid. The wind power companies — Equinor, Golden State Wind and Invenergy California Offshore — are pushing the administration to carve out guaranteed paths for their power lines as it finishes the parameters of the sanctuary. Proponents of the sanctuary, meanwhile, say the companies should have to apply for permits to lay power lines through protected waters. The conflict is yet another example of the administration’s clean energy goals clashing with its priorities for environmental protection and tribal relations, Heather writes. The nation’s largest proposed lithium mine in Nevada, which would feed the electric vehicle industry, is under scrutiny for its potential degradation of surrounding habitat and Indigenous sacred sites. Solar farms in the West are impeding wildlife corridors, and the administration’s push to trap and transport carbon through designated pipelines is meeting opposition from environmental advocates. The Chumash sanctuary battle also comes at a challenging moment for Biden’s offshore wind ambitions. Inflationary costs, worker shortages and clogged supply chains have slowed deployment in the U.S. and driven up costs — imperiling Biden’s goal of reaching 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by decade’s end. If Biden fails to win over young, climate-conscious voters, he may lose reelection. That would hand another term to former President Donald Trump, who has pledged to ramp up production of a main driver of climate change and biodiversity loss: fossil fuels.
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