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Respect for resources

Sempra Energy believes in treating the Earth's resources with respect. We are committed to protecting and conserving the environment, and the health and safety of our employees, our customers and the diverse communities in which we operate and provide service.

We also make it a priority to work together with customers and with business and civic leaders to protect our environment.

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Sempra Energy protects environment
at new LNG plant site in Mexico

Rising from the sparsely settled desert coastline of Baja California, Sempra LNG's new liquefied natural gas (LNG) receipt terminal called Energía Costa Azul is taking shape, with the foundations for LNG holding tanks already finished.


While the progress of the construction is clear, it's much harder to see all that Sempra Energy is doing to protect the nearby environment and help local residents.


But, the effort is huge.


Core value
Although the plant site is fairly remote, a small fishing village is nearby. One of Sempra Energy's core values is to protect and conserve the environment, so the company is working with this 18-member group to ensure that plant construction and operations won't threaten the local fishing and sealife harvesting that provide its livelihood.


The company came up with plans to protect natural species and marine mammals. A major effort began to relocate more than 700,000 sea urchins, sea cucumbers and sea snails from the area where the terminal is being built to nearby banks where they can continue to live and reproduce.


On the plant site, itself, Sempra LNG moved some 5,000 cacti and other desert plants to an onsite nursery where they're being cultivated to triple their numbers for replanting on the land around the site. Sempra Energy is also setting up a conservation zone.


The company also came up with an archeological plan to ensure that any historical artifacts dug up during construction are preserved.


And the efforts haven't stopped there.


Doing more
"While we're doing our part to protect and preserve the local environment, environmental issues such as these weren't the only concerns of local residents," explains Carlos Flores, senior adviser for Sustainable Development for Sempra Mexico.


"Sempra Energy has established a positive relationship with the Mexican community for more than 15 years in Baja California and other states," he adds. "Our goal is to build on our reputation as a good partner and a good corporate citizen. We can achieve this goal by respecting our sustainable-development philosophy. This means bringing safe and clean energy to the Baja California region, while respecting the environment, and supporting local efforts that lead to healthy and safe communities."


To that end, company managers are working with local associations to support plans that promote economic development. In Ensenada, a city of about 300,000 that's 18 miles south of Energía Costa Azul, for instance, the company set up a special fund to support local community plans, and it's working with nonprofit groups to sponsor local educational, cultural, health and environmental plans.


Economic benefits
The project is already producing economic benefits for the region. Close to 1,000 workers are employed at the construction site now, and nearly $120 million in contracts has been awarded to Mexican suppliers. By the time the $1 billion plant and pipelines are finished, the company will have invested somewhere around $330 million in Baja California to pay for goods and services.


And, long after Energía Costa Azul opens in 2008, the northern Mexico-Southern California region will reap the benefits of the project's ability to bring natural gas to the area to fuel commercial, industrial and residential growth.