Baja LNG project is awarded a key permit
ChevronTexaco needs 2 more to begin building
By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 18, 2004
Mexico's environmental ministry has issued ChevronTexaco the first of three key permits needed to build a proposed liquefied natural gas receiving
terminal next to the Coronado Islands off the Tijuana coast.
"It's just one permit at this stage. But it demonstrates the vitality of our project," ChevronTexaco de Mexico Vice President Carlos Atallah, the
project's director, said yesterday.
Two other authorizations ? one from Mexico's Energy Regulatory Commission and another from the Secretariat of Communication and Transportation ? are
needed before construction can begin on the $650 million offshore project, which is expected to provide natural gas to Baja California and Southern
California customers.
Like other LNG receiving terminals planned along the coast, the ChevronTexaco receiving terminal has generated controversy on both sides of the
U.S.-Mexico border. It has been a particular focus of naturalists and environmentalists who contend the offshore project threatens plant, marine and
sea life surrounding the uninhabited Mexican islands.
"We thought it would be rejected," said Alfonso Aguirre Mu?oz, director of a group based in Ensenada that is dedicated to conserving the islands'
ecology. "It's very sad. It's very unfortunate. It's very bad news."
The authorization issued Wednesday by Mexico's environmental ministry, Semarnat, contradicts those assertions, although the agency stipulated that the
25-year permit is subject to conditions detailed in four pages of its 110-page report. Neither the report nor the provisions were available for review
yesterday.
"Obviously, there are conditions. And we will abide to the conditions," Atallah said.
The project, GNL Mar Adentro de Baja California, would operate on a platform about the size of three football fields that would be anchored to the
sandy sea bottom east of South Island, the largest of the four Coronado Islands.
Once operational, the terminal would receive tankers loaded with liquefied natural gas several times a week and process up to 1,400 million cubic feet
of the fuel daily. After it is converted back to a gas, the fuel would be sent ashore and into the energy grid through pipelines.
ChevronTexaco, based in San Ramon, has a memorandum of understanding to bring natural gas from western Australia's Gorgon fields.
The company is competing with at least four other entities to introduce natural gas from far-flung locations across the Pacific Ocean to North
America's West Coast. It also has discussed building its project on or off the shore of Camp Pendleton.
A Sempra Energy-Shell Oil Co. joint venture wants to build a terminal at Costa Azul north of Ensenada. The project has received all needed permits,
but Roberto Valdez, developer of the adjacent Bajamar golf resort, claims a Mexican federal court has issued an injunction putting a hold on the
Semarnat permit. Sempra officials contend the injunction has been dismissed.
Japanese energy firm Mitsubishi has proposed building an LNG terminal at Long Beach harbor. And BHP Billiton of Australia and Crystal Energy of Texas
want to put terminals off the coast of Ventura County.
Energy analysts predict only one or two of the projects will be built.
"There is an energy shortage coming to the whole region. And there has to be a solution to it," said ChevronTexaco's Atallah. "This is not the
solution. This is part of the solution."
While declining to comment on Camp Pendleton, he said the Coronado Islands location is "an excellent site" because it requires the least
infrastructure of the competing proposals, is far enough away from population centers to pose little risk and will not harm the environment.
"We evaluated the impacts," Atallah said. "And our experts and our consultants . . . have determined that this project will not have a significant
impact to the island or to the sea."
Environmentalists, naturalists and many of those who depend on the surrounding area for fishing and recreation disagree. Many politicians of the
opposition PRI party, including Tijuana mayor-elect Jorge Hank Rhon, claim the islands support a unique array of fish, birds and sea life and should
not be associated with a foreign energy multinational.
Last week, the global environmental group Greenpeace staged an action to bring attention to the controversy.
"We have a tremendous potential in this region to use sun, sea and wind for energy," said Aguirre of the Coronado Islands conservation group. "Mexico
should not be promoting the burning of fossil fuels when we are facing global warming."
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
