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SAN DIEGO - A US District Court has rejected a legal attempt by several environmental organizations to halt operations of Sempra Energy's new, 600-megawatt (MW) natural gas fueled power plant in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.

On May 2, the court found that the environmental assessment associated with the presidential permit issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the right-of-way grant issued by the Bureau of Land Management allowing for the construction of the cross border power lines had "adequately addressed issues dealing with public health impacts and some air-emissions issues of the plant and power lines."

However, the court also found that some air and water-emissions impacts were not adequately studied.

In her decision, Judge Irma Gonzalez provided for the continued operation of San Diego-based Sempra's Termoelectrica de Mexicali power plant and a competitor's Mexicali generation unit and calls for the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct additional environmental studies that satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.
 
The DOE has until May 15, 2004 to demonstrate why the court should not set aside the presidential permit.

Termoelectrica de Mexicali is one of three new Sempra power-generating facilities that the company has brought online over the past month. The other two projects are Mesquite Power, a 1,250 MW project located near Phoenix, Arizona, and the jointly owned Elk Hills Power facility, a 550 MW generation plant near Bakersfield in central California.
 
The first 625 MW of Mesquite Power is operating with the second half of the facility slated to commence power production in late 2003.

The power plant has been generating power and sending it over a nine-mile transmission power line to US consumers.

A single megawatt is enough power to meet the needs of 750 to 1,000 homes
Sempra Energy currently serves more than 9 million customers in the US, Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Asia.

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