Several government agencies and Washington County residents have responded critically to Downeast LNG’s intended pipeline route to connect its proposed liquefied natural gas facility in Robbinston to an existing pipeline in Baileyville.

Eight of the 10 letters of response posted on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Web site express opposition to the route, which Downeast LNG has amended six times. Those opposed cited concerns ranging from harm to fish and sacred tribal grounds to a possible decrease in property values along the route.

“The Passamaquoddy Tribe has grave concern regarding the potential environmental impacts the proposed pipeline may incur, both during construction and while under use,” Chief Richard Phillips Doyle of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point said in a letter dated Feb. 20. Doyle said changes to salmon habitats, water chemistry and the overall ecosystem of the St. Croix River are among the “unacceptable” effects of the pipeline route.

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection rejected Downeast LNG’s two attempts to withdraw and refile its project application last fall, but in November, the board voted to allow the company to identify an alternate pipeline route and submit additional information in a revised proposal. Downeast LNG submitted its new pipeline route last month.

The proposed 30-inch-diameter pipeline would be about 29.8 miles long and would run one-half to two miles west of U.S. Route 1 to the northeast tip of the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. It would travel along the edge of the refuge, under and beside the St. Croix River and through the existing Eastern Maine Electrical Cooperative transmission line corridor to the Maritimes & Northeast Baileyville Compressor Station.

The pipeline would be installed below vernal pools and the St. Croix River using a “staged horizontal directional drill,” a method Downeast LNG has said would not upset natural habitats.

But the safety of such drilling is questioned in a letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has been working with Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge and Downeast LNG staff to analyze the project’s effect on fish, birds and native plants. The letter urges FERC to take into account the noise, vibrations, timing and other human disturbances associated with the 1.2-mile-long drill when the commission drafts its environmental impact statement on the proposed LNG project.

The St. Croix International Waterway Commission, an independent, international body established by the Maine and New Brunswick legislatures, made a similar request with respect to the river habitat.

“Selection of a pipeline route should focus initially on avoiding impacts to rare or other valuable fish and wildlife resources, rather than focusing on minimization measures related to construction and operation of the pipeline,” stated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service filing.

Another federal agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, filed a request for intervenor status, meaning it wants to become a legally recognized party in the Downeast LNG proceedings,but it did not oppose the project.

“Siting of the proposed pipeline route may have impacts on unknown cultural sites through its ground disturbing and tunneling activities,” stated the letter filed by the bureau.

In an interview Monday, James Kardatzke, director of the Eastern Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said, “Right now we don’t have an official position, and plan to study it [Downeast LNG’s project] further.” Kardatzke said he is aware of Chief Doyle’s opposition.

The Baileyville Utilities District sent a letter stating that the pipeline route is on wellhead protection land and stands 400 feet closer to a production well than previous proposed routes.

“Baileyville has an excellent water supply and I do not want to see anything happen to it. If something should happen, we have nowhere else to go to get a sufficient supply,” Gardner Rolfe, manager of the district, said in the March 13 letter.

Local residents Sherly King of Baring, Richard and Katherine Berry of Robbinston, Ronna Pesha of Lubec and Paul Strickland of Robbinston and Minneapolis, Minn., aired their concerns over the route’s intersection with wetlands.

“Environmentally, this is a disaster waiting to happen,” Pesha said.

King, a real estate appraiser, said, “Downeast LNG has chosen the cheapest route to build the pipeline and not a route which would have the least amount of interference with the environment and real estate values by going through the more valuable lots with river frontage.” She suggests Downeast LNG instead direct its pipeline through woodlots.

Aside from the filing from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the only other document that did not voice opposition to the project was one from the Maine Department of Conservation, which said, “There are no rare botanical features documented specifically within the project area.”

Downeast LNG officials were traveling and unavailable for comment Monday.