Baja LNG site moving forward

While California stalls the approval process for Liquefied Natural Gas terminals north of the border, Mexico is getting a jump start on building the infrastructure to import LNG:

After spending four years putting together a globe-spanning deal amid a binational chorus of protest, Sempra Energy is well along in building the first liquefied natural gas terminal on North America's West Coast.

Since the first of the year, workers have graded 74 acres of undeveloped seaside land 50 miles south of the Mexico-U.S. border. Two 17-story storage tanks, each containing more steel than the Eiffel Tower does, are starting to rise on the picturesque Costa Azul plateau.

By January 2008, if all goes according to plan, Sempra's $1 billion Energía Costa Azul terminal will begin supplying Baja California and Southern California power plants with a new source of natural gas that could change the region's energy future.