Sempra CEO Testifies in Collusion Case
Sempra Energy Chief Executive Stephen Baum said Thursday that he could not recall that a meeting took place in 1996 between subordinates and El Paso Corp. executives, as testimony began in the trial of a lawsuit accusing the two companies of plotting to limit natural gas supplies in California.
“I don’t have an independent recollection of this meeting,” Baum said under questioning by Pierce O’Donnell, a lawyer for utility customers. Baum, 64, the first witness in the case, did not attend the meeting. He will continue testifying when the trial resumes Monday in San Diego County Superior Court.
The class-action suit, with claims for damages of about $1.3 billion, hinges on the 1996 meeting. The session was held at a Phoenix hotel and attended by 11 executives from gas pipeline operator El Paso as well as San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas, the utility companies that later combined to form Sempra.
California electricity customers allege that San Diego-based Sempra colluded with El Paso to prevent construction of pipelines into the state. The result, the plaintiffs say, was soaring gas prices that helped fuel the state’s energy crisis of 2000-01.
O’Donnell produced minutes from a board meeting of a unit related to San Diego Gas & Electric that was held two days after the Phoenix meeting. At that session, the minutes showed, board members discussed cooperation with El Paso on certain pipeline projects. Although Baum’s name was on the minutes, he testified that he could not recall the discussion.
