Next Hearing on Dispute Scheduled for July 6
 
June 29, 2010 (San Diego) – Sempra LNG, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, yesterday reported that a Mexican federal appeals court has revoked a June 17 district court order that had directed Mexican regulatory agencies to suspend authorizations for operations of Sempra LNG’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Ensenada, Mexico. Sempra plans to bring LNG fuel to North America from the project. 

 
June 22, 2010 (San Diego) - A Mexican court has suspended operations of a liquid-natural gas (LNG) plant operated by Sempra, parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric Company.  The order follows a dispute over ownership of a parcel adjacent to the terminal site.  

SDG&E ratepayers due refunds for ENRON-style price manipulations; company also assessed higher fire insurance premiums

SAN DIEGO, May 10, 2010 – Sempra Energy reports first-quarter 2010 earnings of $106 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, down from $316 million, or $1.29 per diluted share, in the first quarter 2009. First-quarter 2010 earnings included a charge of $96 million after tax related to the energy-crisis litigation settlement announced last week.

Congressman accuses Sempra and SDG&E of “monopolistic” practices

April 25, 2010 (Washington D.C.) – Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego) has sent a letter to Ken Salazar, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary, asking for an independent environmental evaluation on impacts of Sunrise Powerlink proposed by San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) through Bureau of Land Management property along the California/Mexico border. 

Filner asks that Assistant Secretary of Interior David Hayes be excluded from any decision-making related to the Powerlink project because of his recent role as a lobbyist for Sempra/SDG&E. “Mr Hayes lobbied the Department of Energy (DOE) on behalf of Sempra/SDG&E in 2006 seeking National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) designed by DOE for the SDG&E Powerlink corridor,” Filner's letter points out.

By Miriam Raftery
 

April 8, 2010 – How safe would giant wind turbines, power stations, high voltage lines, and a dump proposed for East County be during a powerful earthquake? Consumer advocates and area residents are raising those questions—and the answers in some cases are unsettling.

By Art Rich and Jack Pott

April 1, 2010 (El Cajon) -- Faced with a growing budget gap and boarded up storefronts downtown as a result of the recession, the City of El Cajon announced today that it has sold naming rights to City Hall, Main Street, and the East County Performing Arts Center.
 

“We saw a market opportunity to let these generous corporate partners buy influence AND boost their public images—all perfectly legally,” said Mayor Mark Lewis.

Backcountry residents burned up over latest tactic to grab land before court cases on Powerlink are heard

March 8, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Aiming to begin construction on Sunrise Powerlink this summer, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) is going to court to seek eminent domain powers to force landowners to turn over as many as 80 properties to the utility for construction of the controversial high-voltage power line. The tactic has sparked outrage among many East County residents.

 


“The Bureau of Land Management totally disregarded laws to protect people and nature when it approved the Sunrise Powerlink.  Even the judge presiding over this project with the California Public Utilities Commission agreed with opponents that there’s no need for the project to be built anywhere let alone through communities and the Cleveland National Forest.” - attorney Stephan Volker
 
February 16, 2010 (San Diego)--A lawsuit was filed today aimed at halting construction of San Diego Gas and Electric’s Sunrise Powerlink high-voltage transmission line through southern Imperial and San Diego counties. The lawsuit was filed in the Federal Eastern District Court in Sacramento.

By Miriam Raftery

 “How can you sit there and say it’s safe to be there when that canyon has burned every year—and you’re going to put those towers up, leave us with no power, and we only have one way in and one way out?” -- Myles Thurman, Lakeside

February 3, 2010 (Lakeside) – SDG&E officials received a far-from-warm welcome from Lakeside residents at a community forum last night hosted by the utility to discuss impacts of Sunrise Powerlink. SDG&E plans to hold a follow-up meeting within 30 days.

Customers Urged to Enroll in Assistance, Energy-efficiency Programs
 
January 27, 2010 (San Diego) – As post-holiday bills arrive in mailboxes this month, some families will be faced with tough financial decisions, struggling to make payments in a difficult economy. Southern California Gas Co. (The Gas Company) urges customers to take advantage of the utility’s assistance programs -- programs that can help reduce winter heating bills and increase energy efficiency.

January 24, 2010 – Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) and its subsidiaries have announced realignments designed to bolster their organizations and enhance management experience. All changes are effective March 29, 2010.

January 17, 2010 – Sempra Energy Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Sempra Energy (parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric Co.) has pledged $50,000 in disaster-relief assistance funds to victims of the devastating Haitian earthquake. Sempra Energy Foundation will direct the funds through the San Diego—Imperial County Chapter of the American Red Cross International Relief Fund.

By Miriam Raftery

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI and the California Fair Political Practices Commission have all dropped investigations into boasts made on tape by former Assemblyman Mike Duvall (R-Orange County), who claimed to have had sexual relationships with lobbyists. An Orange County newspaper and other media reported that one of those lobbyists worked for Sempra Energy/SDG&E.  However the investigations apparently failed to substantiate the claims and concluded that no further inquiry was warranted. 

Increased Efficiencies, Reduced Costs Expected

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 23, 2009 – San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) today announced it has joined with Pyron Solar of San Diego to test an advanced concentrated solar-power system that floats in a shallow pool of water and is expected to generate electricity at higher efficiencies and lower costs than conventional flat-panel photovoltaic systems. The objective of the 18-month demonstration project is to validate the technology for potential broad commercial applications.
 

Now being installed at SDG&E’s Mission Control/Skills Training Center in Mission Valley (photo), the technology utilizes acrylic lenses and a dual-tracking system floating in water to concentrate the sun’s rays and focus the sunlight on a proprietary glass optic. The glass optic spreads the sunlight evenly over advanced photovoltaic cells to generate electricity.

 By Miriam Raftery

October 15, 2009 (Sacramento) – A lobbyist scandal in Sacramento has given new meaning to the term “pork” in politics. Ever since former Assemblyman Mike Duvall squealed on tape about bedding two lobbyists, critics have called for an investigation. Now the non-partisan citizens watchdog group Common Cause has called on the Fair Political Practices Commission to open an investigation into whether the female lobbyists violated state law by engaging in affairs with Duvall, an Orange County Republican who resigned in disgrace after his boasts were made public. An Orange County newspaper has identified one of the women as a lobbyist for Sempra Energy/SDG&E.

“Voters need to know how widespread this practice is of lobbyists literally getting into bed with legislators, and since the Legislature and Attorney General have both abandoned any investigation it is now incumbent upon the FPPC to take this on,” said Derek Cressman, Western States Regional Director for Common Cause.

Assembly Ethics Committee Drops Its Investigation

By Miriam Raftery

October 5, 2009 (Sacramento) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched an investigation info former Assemblyman Michael Duvall’s claims of having a sexual affair with a female lobbyist, the Los Angeles Times reports. The woman has been identified as a lobbyist for Sempra Energy/SDG&E by an Orange County newspaper. Duvall was a member of the utility company overseeing public utilities.

By Miriam Raftery
September 13, 2009 (Sacramento) –Last week, Assemblyman Mike Duvall (R-Orange County) resigned after bragging on videotape about sexual romps with lobbyists— including a lobbyist representing SDG&E and its parent company, Sempra Energy, according to an Orange County newspaper. Now Common Cause and the Courage Campaign have launched an online petition drive calling for lobbying reform legislation.  In an e-mail sent to Californians, Courage Campaign asks provocatively, “Are you tired of getting screwed by hypocritical lawmakers?"

September 9, 2009 (San Diego) – Shock and snickers greeted news reports today revealing that a lobbyist for SDG&E/Sempra Energy is accused of granting sexual favors to Republican legislator Mike Duvall, Vice Chair of the Assembly Utilities & Commerce Committee.  If true, the relationship would be a direct conflict of interest and a clear ethical violation, since the committee has oversight over utility industry issues.

Revelations of the affair prompted a flurry of reactions, including this snarky headline published at the Utility Consumers Action Network (UCAN) website: Sempra lobbyists caught doing anything to influence votes ... including Assemblyman Mike Duvall.

 
August 14, 2009 -- The Utility Consumers Action Network has filed two petitions with appellate courts seeking to halt construction of Sunrise Powerlink, Sempra Energy’s high-voltage power line project slated for East County.
 
 

 
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 10, 2009 – If you had $100,000 what would you do to “green” Southern California? That is the challenge that the Sempra Energy Foundation has posed to non-profit organizations with an environmental focus. Those chosen will receive between $25,000 and $100,000, as part of a new $1 million Environmental Champions Awards program created to recognize the environmental efforts of Southern California organizations.
 
Non-profits can submit their applications at www.sempraenergyfoundation.org from now until Sept. 4 in one of three categories: natural resource protection and conservation; environmental education; or environmental health.

 
SAN DIEGO, August 4, 2009 – Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) has reported second quarter 2009 earnings of $198 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, compared with second-quarter 2008 earnings of $244 million, or $0.98 per diluted share. Sempra Energy reaffirmed its previously announced 2009 earnings-per share guidance range of $4.35 to $4.60. Second-quarter 2009 results included an asset write-off of $64 million at Sempra Pipelines & Storage.

May 28, 2009 (San Diego) – Sempra Energy’s California utilities, Southern California Gas Co. (The Gas Company) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), rank No. 1 in customer satisfaction among the largest U.S. investor-owned energy utilities, according to a recent survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). But some local ratepayers expressed shock at that report, citing popular uprisings against Sempra’s proposed Sunrise Powerlink and planned shut-off of power to backcountry areas, as well as admissions by Sempra that its power lines have been linked to 167 fires in the past five and a half years.

May 19, 2009 (San Diego) – Southern California Gas Co. (The Gas Company) announced today that more than $20 million in rebates and incentives are available this year to business customers for qualifying energy-efficiency projects—the largest pool of incentive money in the utility’s history.

By Miriam Raftery March 23, 2009 (San Diego)--Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-San Diego) has coauthored H.R. 964, a measure that would exempt any solar energy project on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands from Environmental Impact Report requirements. Sempra Energy, Bilbray's third largest campaign contributor, seeks to import power from desert solar farms on BLM lands. On Friday, California's Senator Diane Feinstein sent a blistering letter to the Secretary of the Interior opposing solar farms on BLM lands, citing massive environmental damage from scraping bare a half-million acres of desert lands proposed for solar mirrors.

By Miriam Raftery March 12, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) -- East County residents opposed to Sempra Energy’s Sunrise Powerlink project are mobilizing opposition to President Barack Obama’s nomination of David Hayes as deputy director of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Hayes served as Deputy Director of the department during the Clinton Administration, but later went to work for the lobbying firm Latham & Watkins representing Sempra Energy and SDG&E. The Interior Department oversees Bureau of Land Management properties that Powerlink is slated to cross in Lakeside's El Monte Valley and other areas of San Diego's East County. A vote is expected Thursday in the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee. (See http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=About.Members for a list of committee members and their contacts.)