ROBBINSTON – Federal officials had their first peek at the place where Downeast LNG hopes to build a $400 million liquefied natural gas facility. And Mother Nature cooperated Tuesday by providing sunshine.

The 80-acre site is just off Route 1, near Pulpit Rock.

It took federal, state and local officials more than three hours to follow a kind of backward route from where the company’s pipeline will connect with the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline in Baileyville to the actual site in Robbinston.

Company vice president Rob Wyatt led the tour, which was composed of officials from the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission, the U.S. Coast Guard, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the state, including a representative from the State Fire Marshal’s Office. There also were representatives from Boston-based Tetratech ECI, which is preparing the third-party environmental impact statement.

The group gathered at 8 a.m. at the Calais Motor Inn, then went to the Baileyville site of the Maritimes and Northeast pipeline, which stretches from Nova Scotia to Boston. From there, it was a short trip to the compression station and then to the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, where the company’s gas pipeline will follow the former railroad bed along Charlotte Road.

Wyatt said the company planned to take up the tracks and maintain the right-of-way as part of the state’s proposed Rails and Trails project.

The Washington, D.C.-based Downeast LNG project is in its pre-filing stage, and no formal application has been submitted to FERC.

Ultimately the commission staff will prepare an environmental impact statement for Downeast LNG Inc. The commission will use the statement in its decision-making process to determine whether the project is in the public convenience and necessity.

The proposed facilities include an LNG import terminal and storage facility, and a natural gas send-out pipeline 31 miles long and 20 to 24 inches in diameter.

FERC officials also were in eastern Washington County to address the site proposal of the Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC, which hopes to build a facility at Split Rock on Passamaquoddy tribal lands at Pleasant Point with adjoining storage tanks in Perry.

After the group toured the Downeast LNG pipeline route, it was off to Route 1 and the Mill Cove site. Standing on the side of Route 1, Wyatt tried to give FERC officials a sense of where they were. “The [Robbinston Grade] school … is more than a mile from the tanks,” he said.

After about a 15-minute walk through the woods, FERC officials were shown where the company plans to build storage tanks. Although there were two tank sites, company officials have said in the past they planned to build only one storage tank.

From there, it was just a short walk to the water, where the terminal would be built. The site is across the bay from St. Andrews, New Brunswick.

FERC officials plan to prepare a statement that will address the environmental impacts of the two projects, while the U.S. Coast Guard will assess the maritime safety and security of the projects.

The comment period deadline for the Downeast LNG project is April 17. The deadline for the Quoddy Bay project is April 28.

FERC will be the lead agency on both projects in cooperation with other federal, state and local agencies.

Upon receipt of a letter of intent from the owners, the U.S. Coast Guard will conduct an analysis. Among the issues that will be addressed are: the physical location and layout of the facility and its berthing and mooring arrangements; the LNG vessels’ characteristics and the frequency of LNG shipments to the facility; commercial, industrial, environmentally sensitive and residential areas in and adjacent to the waterway used by the LNG vessels en route to the facility; and density and character of the marine traffic on the waterway.

Under its review process, the federal agency will look at several factors including impact on geology and soils; water resources; fish, wildlife and vegetation; endangered and threatened species; cultural resources; land use; socioeconomic factors; marine transportation; air quality and noise; reliability and safety; and possible alternatives to the proposed project.

Although FERC is moving forward, opponents of the project from Eastport to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, continue to file letters of objection with FERC. Opponents believe an LNG facility will destroy the pristine Passamaquoddy Bay.