The marine terminal at the Port of Humboldt Bay is in the design and environmental review stage, using state grants and voter-approved bond funding. (Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District)
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By Suzanne Potter
Feb 2, 2026
California is pressing ahead with a marine terminal for offshore wind at the Port of Humboldt Bay, emboldened by recent court victories allowing four offshore wind projects on the East Coast to proceed despite opposition from the federal government.
The marine terminal at the Port of Humboldt Bay will be ready to build and deploy floating turbines once a more environmentally friendly administration takes office.
Matt Simmons, climate attorney for the nonprofit Environmental Protection Information Center in Arcata, said offshore wind is a crucial step toward California’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2045.
“We as Californians stand up to the Trump administration’s arbitrary attack on the industry,” Simmons asserted. “We have to decarbonize our electricity system, which means generating a lot of electric power using renewables, like solar and wind, while protecting the environment.”
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order attacking the offshore wind industry, citing concerns about energy reliability and affordability. The order was later partially struck down in court. A report by Environment California Research and Policy Center and the Frontier Group found California offshore wind has the potential to produce more than 1.5 times the amount of electricity used in the entire state as of 2019.
Stacy Atkins-Salazar, vice mayor of Arcata, said the project will boost jobs and local grid reliability.
“Strong port and staging infrastructure is essential to our broader transmission planning,” Atkins-Salazar contended. “Our region relies too heavily on aging fossil fuel systems, so we need the transmission upgrades that offshore wind can help deliver. And the sooner they come, the better.”
More than 250 elected officials from across the state have signed a letter circulated by the nonprofit Elected Officials to Protect America in support of wind energy.