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KPBS Midday Edition

Sempra Energy Banking On Fossil Fuels

An undated  graphic rendering shows the Cameron LNG regasification terminal which sits on an industrial-zoned site along the Calcasieu Channel in Hackberry, Louisiana, approximately 18 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and within 35 miles of five major interstate pipelines.
Courtesy of Sempra Energy
An undated graphic rendering shows the Cameron LNG regasification terminal which sits on an industrial-zoned site along the Calcasieu Channel in Hackberry, Louisiana, approximately 18 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and within 35 miles of five major interstate pipelines.
Sempra Energy, the San Diego-based energy giant, has begun producing liquid natural gas (LNG) from its recently opened Cameron facility in Louisiana.

Sempra Energy, the San Diego-based energy giant, has begun producing liquid natural gas (LNG) from its recently opened Cameron facility in Louisiana.

The huge plant will produce LNG for export to other nations and marks Sempra's entry into the global market. The first phase of production is expected to produce some 12 million tons of LNG per year and bring in up to $450 million annually.

The $10 billion Cameron plant is a joint partnership of Sempra, a French multinational and Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi. It was originally designed to import LNG, but times have changed, and the U.S. is now exporting the fuel.

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Sempra's LNG plant in Ensenada, south of Tijuana, was also conceived to import LNG. It is probable that it will be converted to export as well.

Rob Nikolewski, energy reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune, joins KPBS Midday Edition to discuss the new plant and Sempra's emergence as a major fossil fuel exporter.