MACHIAS – Five speakers Thursday evening explored how safety, environmental and jurisdictional aspects would be addressed if the liquefied natural gas facility proposed for Passamaquoddy land at the Pleasant Point reservation moves through the state and federal permitting processes.

Questions to the panelists grew testier toward the end of the 90-minute presentation, which was arranged as an informational session to enlighten Washington County communities on all that would be involved, if an LNG plant were sited Down East.

The panel was hosted by the Washington County Council of Governments for its annual meeting. About 40 Washington County residents turned out for the dinner.

Unlike the 2004 debate when Gov. John Baldacci advocated Harpswell as a potential site for an LNG facility, state officials have held back on public comments on the possible Pleasant Point project.

That made Thursday’s presentation a key occasion for two state officials to at last be heard publicly on the project – the commissioner for the Maine Department of Marine Resources and a staff attorney for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Each was careful to note that so far there has been no formal plan or proposal – and that left them formally unable to express support or not for an LNG presence in Washington County.

Yet the DMR’s George LaPointe took a moment to identify his personal feelings on LNG.

“This is George speaking,” the commissioner clarified. “As a country, we have to have more energy options in the future as oil resources decline. LNG will be available for two to four decades.”

Only four other LNG facilities exist in the United States, one of the speakers noted.

Tribal officials are keen to land the $400 million terminal at Split Rock. Earlier this month the tribal council voted 4-1 to ask the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to waive its appraisal of land for where the tribe hopes to build the facility, on the Eastport side of the reservation.

Plans call for large ships to dock at a pier near Split Rock. They would spend about six days hooked up to a regasification unit as the LNG is unloaded and sent to Boston.

The Passamaquoddy recently entered into an agreement with Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC and its president, Don Smith, to lease land at Split Rock. The company has agreed to pay the tribe about $8 million annually for the life of the project.

Smith was not among the dinner guests at the Carter Banquet Hall. His son, Brian Smith, the 25-year-old project manager, represented the company.

Across the room were several residents of either Eastport or Perry, two towns on either side of Pleasant Point. Their questions showed strong concerns for the project’s potential impacts on area residents’ lives and livelihoods.

What about the interference of safety and security zones with traditional uses of the bay? Where would the new pipeline go? Who would pay for the $10 million to $20 million tugboats? What would be the impact on nearby property values?

The panel had answers for all, and invited even more questions.

“People’s voices will be heard,” promised Jim Dusch, the DEP’s staff attorney. “People have to remain engaged. Now our role is very limited, but once a proposal is on the table, it becomes a very public process.”

The other speakers were Paul Thompson of Washington County Emergency Management; Dan McLean of the U.S. Coast Guard’s marine safety field office in Belfast; and Robert Peacock of Quoddy Pilots USA, which helps vessels navigate the port of Eastport.