Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. will decide among five different routes for a high-voltage power line to connect to New Brunswick within the next month, the company announced Friday.

In the months since the company’s October announcement that, for the third time in recent years, it intends to pursue the 345-kilovolt line to connect a power station in Orrington with the New Brunswick grid, Bangor Hydro officials have been very busy.

In 2002, an effort to build the power line was abandoned under the weight of public scrutiny, particularly the strong opposition from the state’s leading environmental groups. This time around the company is addressing public perception long before any application is filed with the state.

“There’s a huge amount of interest in the project,” company spokeswoman LuAnn Williams said Friday.

The company and its Canadian partner, New Brunswick Power Co. in Fredericton, believe that the line, which will allow power to flow in both directions, can make Maine’s power supply “more efficient and more reliable.” Currently, the single existing line between Maine and New Brunswick is Bangor Hydro’s MEPCO line, which was built in the 1960s and which is often used to full capacity, Williams said.

Demand in New England tends to be high in the summer, while Canadian demand peaks in the winter. Better connection between the two power grids could benefit both sides of the border, said Brian Scott of New Brunswick Power.

Since October, company staff have brought their message to more than 50 town governments, state and federal officials, environmental groups, landowners and regional development groups. Though Williams and her co-workers are lobbying for the project, these meetings have also provided an opportunity for people and organizations to tell Bangor Hydro their concerns about the project.

“It’s certainly two-way communication,” Williams said.

But no open meetings with the general public are planned. Instead, Bangor Hydro is relying on the media and a new Web site to communicate with the public.

Five routes are under consideration, four of which cross the border at Baileyville and connect to a planned New Brunswick Power Co. line that runs to the power station at Point Lepreau on the Bay of Fundy.

The first option is the original route proposed in 2001. The route follows the Studmill Road through Washington County, though it veers off the road several times. The route was controversial among environmental groups because it passes through relatively undeveloped forestland, but the direct track makes the route very efficient, both in terms of cost and the power loss that occurs over long distances, according to the company.

The second route, also fairly direct, runs just south of the Studmill Road, mirroring the existing Maritimes and Northeast natural gas pipeline. Concerns have been raised about the safety and effectiveness of laying an electric line so close to a gas pipeline, but other dual corridors do exist.

The third is a more southerly route, approximately following Route 9 through Clifton and Beddington, though deviating from and crossing the road in a zigzag pattern a number of times. While no route has been formally eliminated, the company has a number of concerns about this one, because of the high number of landowners involved, its environmental impact and its cost, Fred Leigh, environmental compliance manager for the project, said Friday.

The fourth route follows the MEPCO line from Orono to Chester, north of Lincoln, before turning east to follow Route 6 across Washington County, then cutting southeast on a line roughly parallel to U.S. Route 1 before crossing the border at Baileyville.

The final alternative follows the MEPCO line north to the border and crosses into Canada near Orient. This least-direct option would not connect to the proposed New Brunswick Power line, and instead would utilize existing Canadian lines to enter the New Brunswick grid at a power station in Keswick, New Brunswick. This route has been the preferred option of environmental groups, which have said it would require the least amount of development in wild areas.

To make the difficult decision, the company has prepared what it calls a “matrix,” a listing of nearly 70 factors that can be quantified and compared among the five routes under consideration.

Cathy Johnson of the Natural Resources Council of Maine said Friday she was pleased to hear from the company, although she worries that some important criteria, such as the loss of wildness, are difficult to quantify. “It’s a good place to start. The process is already better than it was before,” Johnson said.

Debates over the pros and cons of each option have been ongoing at Bangor Hydro.

“We’ve already had a few all-day hashings out, and expect to have a few more,” Leigh said.

A decision is expected by the end of February, in hopes of filing an application for the project by midsummer that proposes the best overall route.

“It’s all about balance,” Williams said.

More information about the project is available at the company’s Web site: www.bhe.com/nri Concerned citizens can also reach the company by telephone at (800) 499-6600, Ext. 2568.