FERC Approves North Baja Pipe 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Wednesday voted to approve the proposed North Baja Pipeline which will deliver 500 MMcf/d of natural gas from a connection with El Paso Natural Gas near Ehrenberg, AZ, to gas distribution systems and new power plants in northern Mexico and Southern California. 
The U.S. line, which is being built by PG&E Corp.'s National Energy Group, would extend 80 miles to border-crossing facilities near Yuma, AZ. It is expected to cost about $146 million. The Mexican government already has issued a transportation permit to Sempra Energy International to build the 135-mile Mexican portion, Gasoducto Baja norte, to Mexicali, Baja California. 
FERC's approval came after the FERC staff, and the staffs of the California State Lands Commission and the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management issued a favorable final environmental impact statement. The Commission already had issued a preliminary determination, approving all non-environmental aspects of the project. 
If the project "is constructed as modified and in accordance with [North Baja 's] proposed mitigation and our recommendations, it would be an environmentally acceptable action," the staffs of the three agencies concluded in the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on the pipeline (CP01-22). 
The pipeline could be delivering gas to the first of two new power plants in Mexicali as early as mid-summer. Work has been underway for some time on the longer, Mexican portion of the line which runs from Yuma, AZ, near the Mexican border to the Rosarito Beach area south of Tijuana in the northwest corner of Baja.