Overheated gas

At the risk of creating an international incident, let us suggest that some of the recent media coverage of state government’s interest in a proposed gas line from Canada through Maine is a touch overheated. It may be, in fact, that the stories were cooked up from the beginning.

The Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline project would supply Maine with natural gas, a new energy source for much of the state, although places such as Portland have been able to enjoy it for years. The King administration from the start has been behind the project, properly recognizing the benefits that would come from this relatively clean source of power.

Last month, however, Ned Sullivan, the commissioner of the Department of Environemntal Protection, made the mistake of doing his job: He wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, saying that Maine would like to review the project before FERC completed its draft environmental impact statement. He reason was simple — some proposed pipeline routes were better than others and he wanted a chance to comment on this.

Aha, said pipeline detractors here and in Canada, Maine government is going to tie up the project, perhaps for a year!

No, Commissioner Sullivan said, Maine simply wants a voice in this large project and the letter was fairly standard.

You don’t mean it, detractors insisted.

We do, the commissioner said, and have written a second letter to FERC saying we do.

Aha, said detractors, a conspiracy!

Does anyone think it would have been more of a story if the state had told FERC it did not care where the pipeline went? There is an unpleasant smell to this episode and it isn’t the natural gas.

The northern half of Maine, particularly, needs reliable and varied sources of energy if it is going to grow and thrive economically. Maine Yankee is gone, old oil-fired plants are on their way out under proposed Clean Air Act rules, and other small plants could go when their state-imposed contracts expire.

Natural gas is a relatively clean and abundant means to replace older power sources. It certainly isn’t the only answer for Maine, but it should be part of the mix. The question the public should ask is the one of interest to Commissioner Sullivan: How can the pipeline be sited to cause the least environmental harm?

That’s not an end to the project; it’s part of the process of making it work.