Sempra Energy employees, friends and family members participate in statewide Coastal Cleanup Day

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Jennifer Andrews

 

Sempra Energy

 

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        SAN DIEGO, Sept. 18, 2006 – More than 600 Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) employees, family members and friends took part in Saturday’s 22nd Annual Coastal Cleanup Day through the California Coastal Commission’s “Adopt a Beach” program.  Team Sempra Energy fielded cleanup crews in San Diego, Huntington Beach and Santa Barbara as part of the statewide effort, which resulted in the removal of hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash from beaches, streams, rivers, lakes and waterways.

        “As a California company with a focus on environmental responsibility, we are committed to making efforts like Coastal Cleanup Day successful,” said Javade Chaudhri, Sempra Energy’s executive vice president and general counsel.  “Although the results are not finalized, we estimate that Team Sempra Energy helped remove approximately 1 million pounds of trash from our beautiful coastlines and waterways, working in cooperation with our friends and neighbors to improve our environment and make California a cleaner, safer and better place to live and work.”

        Since the program started in 1985, nearly 700,000 Californians have removed more than 10 million pounds of debris from the state’s shorelines and coast during Coastal Cleanup Days.  Marine debris causes injury and death to wildlife through entanglement and/or ingestion of common items such as plastic bags and six-pack rings as well as causing costly damage to fishing boats and injuries to beachgoers.

        Team Sempra Energy participated in 24 sites around the state, heading up efforts at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara, Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach and Borderfield State Park, Dixon Lake, Lake Murray, Ocean Beach, Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve and Los Penasquitos Lagoon in San Diego.

        Coastal Cleanup Day is just one of the many programs Sempra Energy supports as part of the company’s long-standing investment in improving the quality of life in the communities where the company operates.  For more information on Sempra Energy’s commitment to the community, visit www.sempra.com/community.

        Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2005 revenues of $11.7 billion.  The Sempra Energy companies’ 14,000 employees serve more than 29 million consumers in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America and Asia.

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