SDUT: Ensenada mayor tries to shut down Sempra LNG terminal

[Hans Laetz, Newsgroup Editor]

A Mexican natural gas import terminal was the site of a showdown
Friday between Ensenada's mayor and Baja California officials.

Ensenada Mayor Enrique Pelayo Torres ordered the Sempra Energia Costa
Azul LNG plant shut down Friday afternoon saying there were
"irregularities and flagrant violations to the law."

Municipal authorities put seals on the plant gates, but state
officials stepped in to keep it operating, witnesses said.

"The plant has not been shut down," said Kathleen Teora, a Sempra
spokeswoman. “Due to the quick response of the state and federal
authorities in Mexico, the egregious actions of the mayor of Ensenada
were rightfully thwarted."

The plant supplies natural gas from Russia, Indonesia and Qatar to
users on both sides of the border, including large power plants.

The plant has been at the heart of allegations of corruption for
years. Its owner, Sempra Energy, has denied those allegations.

Sempra is the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric, which
operates independently of the natural gas import terminal.

The plant's operation has permits from federal, state and municipal
officials, said Baja California's Economic Development Secretary,
Alejandro Mungaray Lagarda.

"The Sempra plant is operating legally," he said in a statement.

He chided the attempted closure of the plant and said the state would
go to federal court "with the aim of ensuring the rule of law and
punishing those responsible."

The head of Ensenada's business sector, Hector Contreras Luenga,
denounced he city's move.

"This is very unfortunate for those of us who are interested in
promoting business in Baja California," he said.

In his statement, Mayor Pelayo said that land-use permits were
improperly issued, the plant is not adequately insured and Sempra
hasn't told emergency officials how the plant works or how it was
built.

"Municipal authorities don't have plans for roads, pipelines and other
infrastructure inside the plant's area," he said.

He also said that the plant doesn't have a properly equipped emergency
response center.

And he said construction of the plant has caused environmental damage
on land and in the ocean.

Pelayo criticized a former mayor, Jorge Antonio Catalán Sosa, saying
he improperly approved construction of the plant.

Pelayo belongs to the PRI, the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Catalán was a member of PAN, the National Action Party.

Rivalry between the two parties has been intensifying as Mexico
prepares for presidential elections next year. The two parties are
bitter political opponents. The PAN currently controls the Baja
California and federal governments.

Sempra has been battling allegations of wrongdoing surrounding the
plant in Mexican and U.S. courts.

A man who says the company wrongly took his land won a court ruling
finding the company in the wrong, but a later ruling set that aside.

At the same time, a former Mexican manager has accused the company of
bribing officials and of wrongly spending money on a conference center
near the plant.

Sempra denies doing anything wrong, and says the allegations are
thinly veiled extortion attempts.