San Diego Gas & Electric

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San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States. It is owned by Sempra Energy, a Fortune 500 energy services holding company that is based in San Diego.

SDG&E is a regulated public utility that provides energy service to 3.3 million consumers through 1.3 million electric meters and more than 800,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The utility's area spans 4,100 square miles (10,600 square kilometers).

In 2004, the California Public Utilities Commission approved SDG&E's long-term energy resource plan, which relies on a balanced mix of resources to meet the growing energy needs of San Diego. That mix includes increased emphasis on energy efficiency, more renewable energy resources, and additional baseload generation plants and transmission capacity.

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[edit] Interconnections

SDG&E has two 230 kV lines (Miguel-Tijuana line and the LaRosita-Imperial Valley Line) that connect the Californian transmission system with the Mexican Comisión Federal de Electricidad tranmission system in Baja California. The Path 45 transmission corridor, spanning over the United States-Mexico border, has a capacity of 408 Megawatts. SDG&E has also one 500 kV line that forms the massive Path 46 transmission system that ensures Southern California has enough electricity.

[edit] United States versus San Diego Gas and Electric

The Encanto Gas Holder was a natural gas holding station composed of over 9 miles (14 km) of underground 30-inch (760 mm) pipe on about 16 acres of land in Lemon Grove, adjacent to the city of San Diego. First brought on line in the mid 1950's, the Encanto Gas Holder was decommissioned in 2000-2001 by San Diego Gas and Electric, Sempra Energy as the agent of SDG&E, and the IT Corporation as the main contractor for the decommissioning. TriState was brought on board to abate strips of asbestos-containing pipe coating for another contractor to cut the holder bottle into 40-foot (12 m) long sections. TriState was later tasked with stripping the coating at the gas holder site despite employee and neighboring residents' concerns of friable asbestos generated as a byproduct of the gross stripping processes employed by SDG&E contractors.[1]

In 2006, SDG&E was indicted by U.S. Attorney Carol C. Lam in the Southern District of California on 5 counts constituting environmental crimes, including conspiracy, fraud, and 3 counts of mishandling regulated asbestos containing materials in violation of the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. Additional defendants include SDG&E's director of environmental compliance, an uncertified asbestos removal consultant, and the IT Corporation project manager.[2] Charges were dismissed without prejudice in November 2006, but the defendants were re-indicted in early 2007 on nearly identical charges, and the case was heard in San Diego's federal court in June and July 2007.[3] On July 13, 2007, 3 guilty verdicts were returned against defendants SDG&E, IT Corporation project manager Kyle Rhuebottom, and SDG&E environmental specialist David "Willie" Williamson, including false statements, failure to provide adequate notice to government agencies of regulated asbestos on the site, and violating asbestos work practice standards for the purpose of avoiding the cost of lawful environmental compliance. SDG&E environmental director Jacquelyn McHugh was found not guilty, and defense attorneys vowed an appeal for unjust prosecution.[4][5]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ US Attorney's press release
  2. ^ SDG&E, workers indicted on fraud
  3. ^ SDG&E asbestos-removal trial begins
  4. ^ SDG&E Found Guilty Violating Asbestos Removal Standards
  5. ^ FBI/DOJ press release
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