San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) unit reported late Monday that a Mexican federal appeals court has revoked a June 17 district court order directing Mexican regulatory agencies to suspend Sempra’s authorizations for operating the Energia Costa Azul LNG receiving terminal north of Ensenada along the Pacific Coast of North Baja California. Another hearing in the long-running dispute is set for July 6.

A former owner of 250 acres adjacent to Sempra LNG’s receiving terminal who initiated lawsuits against the company had predicted a different outcome following the Mexican federal district court decision that ordered the Sempra facility to be shut down pending further legal proceedings (see Daily GPI, June 23). However, a Los Angeles-based spokesperson for the former landowner told NGI Tuesday that Sempra was misrepresenting the appellate court action and predicted on July 6 the district court’s original ruling against Sempra will be re-imposed.

“That original order shall become permanent shortly,” he said. All Sempra has done is file a grievance in a separate court, and that is technically not an appellate court, according to the spokesperson. “Once again, they [Sempra] have misrepresented the facts to the public. The hearing on the sixth will address the legality or illegality of the terminal; they say they don’t need a setback [buffer land], and we say they do.”

There has been no stoppage of operations at Sempra’s LNG facility, and the company reiterated again Monday that the terminal “continues to operate in compliance with all permits.” The disputed adjacent land is not required to operate the LNG terminal, Sempra said.

Sempra said that it intends to “continue to vigorously defend its investment and protect its right to operate this important facility for the energy security of Mexico.”

The spokesperson for landowner Ramon Eugenio Sanchez Ritchie told NGI that his client seeks to close the LNG facility and get his land back because Sempra allegedly committed fraud in developing the project and obtaining the adjacent land as a buffer. The lawsuit originally was filed nearly six years ago by Sanchez Ritchie.

Sempra said the full ruling by the appellate court was “not yet available” late on Monday, but the result of the hearing was posted to the appeals court website. In addition, the district court acknowledged receipt of notice from the appeals court noting that the suspension order had been voided, Sempra said.

The June 17 order had been issued without a hearing at the request of Sanchez Ritchie based on his claims of ownership of the adjacent land.

Sempra maintains that its federal environmental permit issued in April 2003 included a requirement for Sempra LNG to acquire “unspecified additional property adjacent to the terminal as a ‘buffer zone’. However, the layout of the terminal subsequently was modified in a manner demonstrated by independent studies to eliminate the need for any additional property, including the property in dispute.” As such, Sempra said that in June 2005 the Mexican federal environmental agency, SEMARNAT, eliminated the requirement for additional land.

Sempra said it will continue to post background information and updates on the ongoing dispute at www.sempra.com.

The Sanchez Ritchie spokesperson earlier in June warned that if the Mexican authorities failed to enforce the original district court order’s terms and conditions, it would be another indication that his client’s allegations were true — Sempra was “engaging in undue influence over the rule of law once again.”

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