ST. STEPHEN, New Brunswick – People gathered around maps and pictures Wednesday, and area residents could trace the path of a proposed $30 million Canadian underground pipeline extension stretching from New Brunswick to Maine.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline held an open house to preview its proposed 30-inch diameter pipe, which would start at the planned Canaport liquefied natural gas facility in Saint John, then run north of Pennfield and St. George, across the St. Croix River into Baileyville, Maine.

The open house was at the Royal Canadian Legion branch on Queen Street West.

Maritimes & Northeast plans to increase the capacity of its 90-mile system. The company’s existing pipeline stretches from Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, though New Brunswick to energy markets in Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States.

The company is seeking public comment regarding its preliminary routing of the pipeline corridor. Environmental and socioeconomic studies throughout the proposed pipeline development are under way.

The company is expected to apply for regulatory approval later this year through the National Energy Board of Canada. Maritimes officials have set a target date of November 2008 for the new capacity to go on line.

The questions asked by area residents involved the pipeline’s route, environmental concerns, alternative sites and how those concerns will be mitigated.

“So we are gathering their input now and we hopefully will be able to give them the answers they need,” spokesman Steve Rankin said.

Rankin said that the company is also looking at expanding its Maine pipeline.

“We’re in the process of doing some of the environmental work related to that and some of the community outreach related to that,” he said. “We would file with the [U.S.] Federal Energy Regulatory [Commission] probably in the first quarter of 2006 for that facility.” Rankin added that no dollar amount has yet been attached to that project.

The new pipeline would be used solely for the Canaport project, he said.

Irving Oil Ltd. and Repsol YPF SA announced in June that they had formed a partnership. Canaport LNG will construct, own and operate the LNG regasification terminal in Saint John.

The Canaport LNG terminal will be operational in 2008, initially delivering 750 million cubic feet per day of regasified LNG into the market.

Natural gas is liquefied by cooling it to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. It is usually transported by tankers to a terminal and off-loaded into large tanks. The LNG is drawn from the tanks and heated so it returns to a vapor state.

The Canadian LNG proposal is in direct competition with similar LNG terminals that have been proposed for Pleasant Point, Robbinston and Calais.

Maritime is owned by affiliates of Duke Energy. The majority owners are Emera Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp.