BREWER – Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline has submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the certificate it needs to begin work on a $250 million expansion.

The bulk of the work – namely the construction of four natural gas compressor stations and a 31.3-mile loop of pipeline along an existing line in Washington County – is slated for Maine, according to a notice of application FERC published last week.

Other aspects of the expansion include modifications to three existing compressor stations and a new meter station in Haverhill, Mass., according to the notice.

Maritimes & Northeast and its Canadian affiliate transport natural gas from Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, through New Brunswick to energy markets in Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States.

According to company officials, compressor stations are slated for Brewer, Searsmont, Eliot and Gorham. The four stations would bring the total in Maine to six.

Maritimes & Northeast, owned by a group of energy companies, already has two compression stations in Maine, one in the Washington County town of Baileyville and the other in Richmond in Sagadahoc County.

Compressor stations boost pressure in a pipeline.

The project remains on track, Maritimes & Northeast spokesman Marylee Hanley said Tuesday.

Barring any unforeseen snags, the company expects FERC to schedule public hearings by late this year or early next year, Hanley confirmed. If all goes to plan, she said, construction will start in the spring of 2003. Maritimes’ goal is to have the expansion operational by July 1, 2004.

The $3 billion pipeline Maritimes & Northeast built more than two years ago stretches from Nova Scotia to Boston. More than 200 miles of pipeline were built in Maine.

According to a project update posted on Maritimes’ Web site, the expansion would allow Maritimes to nearly double its capacity to transport natural gas from offshore Canada to markets in the northeastern United States.

In Brewer, Maritimes is eyeing a roughly 20-acre parcel between the Day and Lambert roads as a possible site for a 15,000-square-foot compression station.

The site is undeveloped and at least 2,000 feet from the nearest homes, according to a company construction manager.

Most of the site would be left untouched, though a small portion would be cleared to accommodate the station and parking. In addition, an access road would have to be built to reach the site.

While FERC has the ultimate say over where the compression stations will be located, Maritimes also needs to submit applications to other federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Coastal Zone Management and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

In Brewer, the proposed station also will need site plan approval from the city’s planning board.

Individuals or groups that want to obtain legal status by becoming a party to FERC’s proceedings have until March 5 to file a motion to intervene, according to the FERC notice.