AUGUSTA – Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection voted Thursday to assume jurisdiction over permit applications for the first of two liquefied natural gas facilities proposed for Passamaquoddy Bay.

The BEP’s unanimous decision means the public will have greater opportunity to participate in the review of Downeast LNG’s application than through the normal Department of Environmental Protection staff review process.

Downeast LNG hopes to build an onshore import terminal and storage facility in Mill Cove in Robbinston capable of supplying up to 625 million cubic feet of natural gas a day to the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline.

The board is expected also to assume jurisdiction over the second liquefied natural gas application pending in Maine once Quoddy Bay LNG files all of its necessary paperwork with the state.

Quoddy Bay LNG is seeking authorization to construct an import terminal at Split Rock on the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation and a storage facility in Perry. Quoddy Bay’s system would be capable of handling up to 2 billion cubic feet of gas daily.

Both companies also have applications pending with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They are among at least nine LNG applications or proposals in New England alone as companies seek to tap into the lucrative natural gas market to meet growing demand.

DEP staff said the size and interest in Downeast LNG’s project justifies handing over jurisdiction to the BEP for a more public review. The 10-member board serves as the DEP’s rulemaking arm and provides independent review of department decisions on permit applications, enforcement actions and other issues.

“The department has concluded that the proposed project is of substantial public interest and does have the potential to affect a broad geographic area,” DEP staff wrote in its recommendation to the board. “This conclusion is backed by the ongoing communications this agency has had with numerous interest groups and individuals throughout the federal processes that have been underway since January 2006.”

The board set a deadline of Friday, Feb. 9, for parties to petition to become intervenors on the application. As an officially recognized party in the proceedings, intervenors are entitled to offer testimony and evidence as well as cross-examine other parties during the public hearings.

BEP members are expected to consider the petitions to intervene during the board’s March 1 meeting. Those deadlines as well as additional information will be featured in public notices published in state newspapers during the week of Jan. 22.

Speaking after the vote, representatives of Downeast LNG said they were satisfied with the board’s decision to assume jurisdiction.

Robert Wyatt, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based Downeast LNG, said the company was eager to move forward with the review process.

FERC is already accepting intervenor petitions for both applications. Wyatt said he expected between 20 and 30 intervenors on his company’s application with FERC.

In a sign of the intense international interest over the proposals, the provincial government of New Brunswick has applied with FERC for intervenor status in order to ensure Canadian concerns are addressed.

The gigantic LNG tankers would have to pass through Canadian waters at Head Harbor Passage en route to either of the proposed facilities on the Maine side of Passamaquoddy Bay. That prospect has sparked serious environmental and safety concerns from some residents on both sides of the border.

Federal review of the applications is expected to take up to 18 months. Maine state agencies will conduct many of their reviews concurrently with the goal of helping inform the federal process.

The BEP will examine such issues as site location and development, impacts on the land and water, and air emissions from the proposed facility.