LNG Plant Ensenada Still a Go

Ensenada officials who attempted to shut down a big natural gas import terminal that supplies Mexican and U.S. customers were rebuffed Friday by Baja California and federal intervention.

"The municipal police came onto the site," said Kathleen Teora, a spokeswoman for San Diego-based Sempra Energy, which owns the Energia Costa Azul plant. "There was an issue between the state, the federal and the municipal authorities."

The plant continued operating, she said.

Ensenada Mayor Enrique Pelayo Torres ordered the plant shut down Friday saying there were "irregularities and flagrant violations to the law."

Later in the day, however, the president of the Mexican Energy Regulatory Commission sent Pelayo a letter asserting that the plant is operating within the law and that it's up to federal officials, not local politicians, to decide whether it stays open or not.