Sempra Cancels Vista Pacifico LNG in the Aquarium of the World

On February 26, 2026, Sempra announced its cancellation of the proposed Vista Pacifico liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Topolobampo, Sinaloa; it’s the second of three major LNG export schemes planned for the Gulf of California from various developers. In its 2025 Form 10-K filing, the company disclosed that its subsidiary, Sempra Infrastructure, and Mexico’s state‑owned utility, Comisión Federal de Electricidad, had terminated their Vista Pacifico development agreement in December 2025 “due to a change in [their] respective priorities.” 

The announcement was immediately welcomed by project opponents on both sides of the border: communities in Mexico who have spent decades defending the Gulf of California’s extraordinary biodiversity, joined in recent years by supporters in the United States, including NRDC. Much of this opposition has coalesced under the ¿Ballenas o Gas? (Whales or Gas?) campaign, rooted in the same unparalleled marine richness that led UNESCO in 2005 to designate the islands and protected areas of the Gulf of California as a World Heritage site. The region’s vitality is so extraordinary that renowned oceanographer Jacques Cousteau famously dubbed it the “aquarium of the world.”

This latest cancellation marks a dramatic turn from the bleak outlook in December 2024, when the future of the Gulf of California appeared dire as U.S. fossil fuel companies promised imminent final investment decisions (FIDs) to support large‑scale LNG production and transport through these biodiverse waters. Only two months later, beginning in February 2025, the largest of these ventures—the massive Saguaro Energía LNG project at Puerto Libertad, Sonora—began to falter. Without an FID in sight, Saguaro became mired in public scrutiny, operational upheaval, and mounting legal challenges, ultimately running aground in July 2025 with the looming expiration of its 2018 export permit and its need to secure a sweeping seven‑year extension.

Global opposition

Last October, at the quadrennial meeting of the planet’s largest network of conservation experts, convened by the 1,400-member International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the World Conservation Congress weighed in unmistakably in defense of the gulf, approving overwhelmingly a resolution against its industrialization for LNG development. The undisputed scientific foundation for these designations is the iconic habitat and rich diversity of the species themselves: 39 percent of all marine mammal species, 8 species of great whales (including the endangered blue and fin), 891 species of fish (including endangered whale sharks), 5 of 8 species of sea turtles (including the 2,000-pound endangered leatherback), millions of marine birds, and giant manta rays.

In October 2025, citing concerns about impacts to biodiversity, climate, and the communities and fisheries of the region, NRDC delivered a detailed open letter to Sempra CEO Jeffrey Martin urging reconsideration of the utility’s plans in the gulf and subsequently reiterating the request in opinion pieces in the Los Angeles Times, the Mercury News, and the San Diego Union-Tribune. NRDC’s recent issue brief High Risk, High Inconsistency targets Sempra’s investors and emphasizes the range of significant risks specifically associated with Vista Pacifico LNG. 

Following the company’s February 2026 announcement, NRDC noted that the decision aligned with the overwhelming opposition expressed by communities in Mexico, including from the community of Topolobampo, Sinaloa, which has long raised concerns about threats to local fisheries, public health, and biodiversity from the proposed industrialization.

What’s next?

While progress against Saguaro Energía in 2025 and last week’s cancellation by Sempra both add unquestionable momentum to the global effort to protect the Gulf of California, there can be no denying that the battle for the gulf is far from over; indeed, the momentum to protect the region is picking up steam. Groups fighting to protect the area have recommitted, not only to maintain their decades-long opposition to Saguaro Energía but also to expand and intensify their focus on the third LNG project threatening the gulf. Planned as the world’s largest floating LNG terminal, the American Mexican Integrated Gas Operations (AMIGO) LNG is a proposed floating liquefaction facility—with a projected two-train capacity of 7.8 million tons per annum of LNG—for the western coast of the gulf at Guaymas, Sonora, owned by a Texas company Epcilon and a Singapore-based U.S. company LNG Alliance. Mexicans mobilized this month to meet AMIGO’s March 12 deadline for the filing of public comments in the recently initiated environmental review process. On its face, the project’s environmental assessment is riddled with major redactions that obscure not only the details and specific location of the project and its related infrastructure but also the range of its significant adverse impacts.

There can be no doubt that the Gulf of California—or any region like it renowned for its exceptional biodiversity—is the wrong place for industrialization by the fossil fuel industry. While Sempra has made the right choice in walking away from Vista Pacifico LNG, the continuing LNG threat to the Gulf of California presents an existential choice for Mexico between protecting nature and permitting its industrialization for the insatiable financial gain of U.S. LNG companies. 

This is an industry that, left unchecked, will expand its global reach, inevitably accelerating the global tragedy of climate change on the earth, its people, and its wildlife. The battle for the gulf is a transformational struggle that we can’t afford to lose, and it’s a battle that, for decades, the people of Mexico have demonstrated their unshakeable, relentless determination to win. NRDC and its members are committed to supporting them in that effort.