Despite failed attempts in the past, Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. is again seeking to build a high-voltage electricity transmission line between Maine and New Brunswick, a spokeswoman said this week.

The company has filed for its first federal permit to construct a 345-kilovolt line connecting Orrington with the New Brunswick power grid – ideally at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant located southeast of Saint John – though the exact route has not yet been selected.

Last year the company allowed permits for the project to expire after a fight over the line’s original proposed location through some of the wildest parts of Hancock and Washington counties. The plan was opposed by both the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and environmentalists.

This time around Bangor Hydro is attempting to nip controversy in the bud by meeting with past opponents as the company studies several possible routes for the line, which is expected to cost about $65 million.

Bangor Hydro has wanted to build the line since about 1980, but it is needed now more than ever, LuAnn Williams, corporate communications officer for Bangor Hydro, said Monday.

With the New England blackout recently in the headlines, reliability of the power grid has become an issue of public concern. An additional tie between the Maine and New Brunswick grids could decrease the unpredictability of electricity flow that some analysts are blaming for the September power outage, Williams said.

With a new line in place, the power supply “will be more efficient and more reliable,” she said.

Ideally, New England and Atlantic Canada would be well-connected. Excess energy produced during the winter, when U.S. demand is low, could be sold to Canada, whose electricity demand peaks during the heating season. During the summer, when U.S. demand is raised by air conditioners, energy could be imported from Canadian producers, said Brian Scott, director of transmission business development with New Brunswick Power Co. in Fredericton.

Maine nearly always produces more power than its residents use, but the state has struggled to sell its surplus electricity because of a power bottleneck between Maine and energy-hungry southern New England. There just aren’t enough lines to get the power out of the state, Williams said.The sole existing connection between the Maine and New Brunswick power grids, the MEPCO line, a Bangor Hydro line built in the 1960s, crosses the border near Orient. The capacity of this existing line is so filled with power flowing north to south that little remains for energy flowing south to north, said Williams.

Bangor Hydro would prefer to connect to the New Brunswick grid at Point Lepreau, because New Brunswick Power – a Canadian company that, like Bangor Hydro, is a subsidiary of Emera Energy Inc. of Nova Scotia – plans to construct a line from Point Lepreau to the border at a point just north of Baileyville.

“They’re our partner. Somehow, we’ve got to get there,” Williams said.

New Brunswick Power is seeking regulatory approval for its line. Construction on the $30 million project could begin soon.

However, NB Power is waiting for Bangor Hydro before it makes any investments in construction.

“It doesn’t make sense to build a line with nothing to connect to,” Scott said.

Bangor Hydro would prefer the shortest possible route between Orrington and Baileyville, both to reduce the project’s cost and to conserve energy. As electricity travels long distances, power is lost during transit, Williams said.

“If you can conserve at the source, that’s a huge benefit,” she said.

The route is also ideal because of its proximity to three Canadian power generation facilities – the Point Lepreau nuclear plant as well as a fuel oil plant and a natural gas cogeneration plant, Scott said.

Bangor Hydro hopes to reduce environmental costs by laying the power line alongside an existing corridor, but Williams did not reveal which specific routes are under consideration.

In the past, International Paper, which owns a majority of the land along the most direct route, has advocated for laying the power line alongside the Maritimes & Northeast natural gas pipeline that runs parallel to the private Stud Mill road.

However, some have raised safety concerns about locating an electricity line so near a natural gas line.

An IP spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine has advocated for laying the second transmission line beside the MEPCO line. The corridor would require little additional clearing, and connecting to the Canadian grid at the Keswick substation instead of Point Lepreau would make the northerly route comparable both in terms of cost and distance, Cathy Johnson of NRCM said Monday.

Bangor Hydro’s preferred southern route likely would pass through the watersheds of several endangered Atlantic salmon rivers, she said.

“This [route] may be their preference. The question is whether it’s worth sacrificing this pristine area,” Johnson said.

If the line is built, there likely will be an immediate market for American power in eastern New Brunswick, Scott said.

The Point Lepreau nuclear plant went online in 1983. It is expected to operate safely until about 2008. Environmental groups in Canada are calling for the plant to be shut down, a project that has been estimated at more than $3 billion. NB Power hopes to refurbish the plant at a proposed cost of $845 million.

The plant’s future is uncertain. If it shuts down, even for the 18-month refurbishment, NB Power will have to purchase 635 megawatts per hour of electricity to fill the void – energy which could come from Maine.

Regardless of who uses the line, Bangor Hydro is confident it can market the line’s full capacity and Bangor Hydro customers will not see major rate changes, Williams said.

“The line will be paid for and utilized by everyone in New England,” she said.