Baja Bernie - 3-12-2006 at 11:19 AM
March 12, 2006
Baja California News
Controversial Gas Plant Delayed
The energy giant Chevron Texaco has informed Mexican
authorities that the company is suspending work on a
controversial regasification facility off the Baja
California coast. On a visit to Baja California last week,
federal Energy Secretary Fernando Canales Clarion confirmed
the company decided to suspend construction for two years
of the complex slated for the Coronado Islands. According
to Canales, fuel supply problems caused Chevron to announce
the suspension. The plant has been touted as a new source
of natural gas for the energy-hungry border and US markets.
Although Mexican authorities have given the green-light for
the regasification plant, Mexican and US environmental
groups oppose it. Last year, several organizations filed a
complaint over the Coronado Islands project with the Canada-
based Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), a
body set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement
to hear citizen grievances about development projects in
the three NAFTA member nations.
In their pending complaint, Greenpeace Mexico, the Center
for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups and
activists charged that the Mexican government's
environmental impact statement for Chevron Texaco's project
neglected key provisions of Mexican environmental law and
the Coronado Islands' status as a specially protected
area. The environmentalists contend several endangered
species could be jeopardized by a regasification complex.
Currently, the CEC is reviewing the Mexican government's
response to the citizen complaint.