Intimating that Southern California’s highly compromised air quality could be made worse by large liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in the future, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court Tuesday against the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which established new gas quality standards for the state’s major gas utilities last fall.

AQMD’s chief administrator promised to “aggressively challenge” the state regulators on the LNG standard after it was adopted last September. The CPUC standard is thought to be advantageous to Sempra Energy, which plans to bring in Indonesian LNG supplies from its Baja terminal starting next year.

“At a time when we are searching for every possible means to further reduce air pollution, we cannot afford a setback that will significantly increase emissions and subject residents to worsened air quality,” said Barry Wallerstein, AQMD executive director, in a prepared announcement on the lawsuit. “We are asking the court to protect public health by correcting a poor decision made by the CPUC.”

The four-county regional pollution regulator alleged that the CPUC standards allow the importation of so-called “hot gas,” without subjecting it to analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). AQMD contends that the hot gas is LNG with “an inherently different chemical composition and higher heating content” than is currently used in Southern California.

In a separate response, CPUC President Michael Peevey disputed this allegation, saying the CPUC standard requires that supplies meet the current standard of Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. utility. Nevertheless, AQMD said that “preliminary tests” have shown that certain equipment burning “hot gas” can nearly double emissions of nitrogen oxides, a key cause of ozone and fine particulate pollution.

For natural gas quality, new, narrower standards were adopted Sept. 21, requiring Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and SoCalGas to change their tariffs on this subject. Leading up to the CPUC action, gas quality was an unexpectedly high-profile issue in the second phase of a statewide gas proceeding. Even the arcane global gas measurement for heating value, the Wobbe number, was elevated to central status in the regulatory debate.

Under the rules adopted by the CPUC, the Wobbe for any imports would be capped at 1,385, a compromise brokered by CPUC President Michael Peevey over a 1,400 level recommended by Sempra Energy’s two utilities. (Southern California Gas Co.’s current limit is 1,437.) In the future, gas operators, such as Sempra Energy’s utilities, are required to avoid getting slugs of gas in the system with excessively high heat content that could cause problems at a major gas-fired electric generation plant or in home and small business water heating systems.

In response to the CPUC-approved new standards, San Diego Gas & Electric and SoCalGas filed revised (Rule 30) tariffs that contain the following specifications: minimum Wobbe index of 1,279; maximum Wobbe index of 1,385; minimum heating value of 990 Btu/scf; and maximum heating value of 1,150 Btu/scf.

AQMD is challenging whether these standards will worsen the local area’s fight against increased greenhouse gas emissions.

“California has the cleanest gasoline in the nation to help us fight the worst air pollution in the country,” Wallerstein said. “Why shouldn’t we maintain the cleanest natural gas standards as well?”

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