Federal regulators have issued a request for public comment on a new liquefied natural gas pipeline route submitted by Downeast LNG. The pipeline would connect the proposed Downeast LNG facility in Robbinston to an existing pipeline in Baileyville.

The new pipeline route is the sixth one put forth by Washington, D.C.-based Downeast LNG and is the first route that does not pass through any portion of Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. The first five proposed routes put forth by developers in 2006 later were withdrawn because of concerns raised by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“This [route] avoids Meddybemps Heath and addresses the concerns raised by the Fish and Wildlife Service by avoiding Moosehorn altogether,” Downeast LNG President Dean Girdis said Tuesday.

The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will consider public comment as they assess the pipeline route and prepare an environmental impact statement on the pipeline and Downeast LNG’s proposed import and storage terminal located south of Mill Cove in Robbinston.

A number of cooperating agencies are assisting FERC in preparing the environmental effect statement. They include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service; and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Girdis said he hopes people will give FERC their comments on the pipeline.

“All feedback is important because it helps improve the project,” Girdis said.

The proposed 30-inch-diameter pipeline would be about 29.8 miles long and would run one-half to two miles west of Route 1 to the northeast tip of the refuge. It then would proceed northwest for about 1.4 miles, travel west for about 0.75 miles and then run north for about a half-mile to Magurrewock Mountain.

The route then would proceed 7.5 miles above the northern portion of the refuge, traveling south of Magurrewock Mountain and across U.S. Route 1. The route also would cross under the St. Croix River and then parallel the Maine Central Railroad corridor along the St. Croix River.

Near Baring, the pipeline would turn south away from the railroad corridor, turn southwest, and parallel U.S. Route 1 for about 1.3 miles. The route would make its final leg along the existing Eastern Maine Electrical Cooperative transmission line corridor to the existing Maritimes & Northeast Baileyville Compressor Station.

The pipeline will be installed below vernal pools and the St. Croix River using a “staged horizontal directional drill,” a method that does not require cutting a trench that would upset natural habitats, Girdis said.

Bob Godfrey, spokesman for Save Passamaquoddy Bay, a group that opposes Downeast LNG and the Quoddy Bay LNG facility proposed in Perry and Pleasant Point, said pipeline routes are “of no consequence.”

“If they don’t have an LNG terminal, the pipeline issue is moot,” Godfrey said.

Public comments should be specific and should focus on the potential environmental effects of the pipeline. FERC strongly encourages people to file comments on its Web site www.ferc.gov under the “e-Filing.”

To make a comment by mail, send an original and two copies of the letter to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Label one copy of comments for the attention of OEP/DG2E/Gas Branch 3. Reference Docket No. CP07-53-001 on the original and both copies. Mail comments so that they will be received in Washington, D.C., on or before March 14.