Industrial power consumers in Maine are asking the state to put the brakes on plans to create so-called "energy corridors." The request for a delay has complicated the deliberations of a legislative committee set up to make recommendations on how the state should regulate the transmission of energy through Maine. Those seeking the delay say they're worried that by moving too quickly on the issue, Maine lawmakers could shortchange the state's evolving energy industry and, more specifically, the future of liquefied natural gas terminals.

Industrial power consumers in Maine are asking the state to put the brakes on plans to create so-called "energy corridors." The request for a delay has complicated the deliberations of a legislative committee set up to make recommendations on how the state should regulate the transmission of energy through Maine. Those seeking the delay say they're worried that by moving too quickly on the issue, Maine lawmakers could shortchange the state's evolving energy industry and, more specifically, the future of liquefied natural gas terminals.

Christopher Gardner says the Commission to Study Energy Infrastructure needs to carefully assess the rapidly changing dynamics in the power generation industry before deciding how to regulate energy corridors through Maine.

"Honestly this might be our last chance," he said.

As the commissioner from Washington County, Gardner says he's particularly concerned about giving away too much to Canadian energy suppliers. He says the last thing he wants to see is a policy that could restrict, or even lock out, access to transport lines from a potential liquefied natural gas terminal in Passamaquoddy Bay.

"I don't want to be known as the guy who went in and appeased, just thinking that if we play nice with them, Canada will come around. I don't know if that's going to work or not, but I'll tell you, I'll get run out of Washington County on a pole if I make the wrong call."

The 13-member panel became bogged down in a protracted debate over whether to extend the current moratorium on energy corridors throughout the state. The development of policy to regulate transmission and transport line routes comes at a time when Maine is becoming increasingly involved in wind and tidal projects, and is showing new interest in an LNG facility in Washington County.

Meanwhile Irving Oil-Fort Reliance in Saint John is also interested in routing energy through Maine, as is Hydro Quebec, which recently announced plans to buy New Brunswick Power. Tony Buxton, an energy attorney representing industrial consumers and LNG developers, warns that if the Canadians flood southern New England with cheap power, Mainers will pay the price in more ways than one, since the state will not be able to compete with the likes of Hydro Quebec.

"Everybody who believes they want their child to grow up working in a motel, changing beds and washing floors, should be in favor of that option, because it is an alternative of low wages, poor educational facilities, poor opportunity for our families, and a disintegrating society," Buxton says. "Being a truck stop on the road from Canada is not a future for Maine -- we have to build our own future."

This was supposed to be the last meeting of the commission before it issues its final recommendation on energy corridors next month, but commission member Keith Van Scotter, who is also the president of Lincoln Pulp and Paper, asked the panel to slow down and evaluate the new dynamics in the North American energy industry. "We don't know where this is going to go, and I think it would behoove us as a state and as a committee to really understand this a little bit more," he said.

"I think the Hydro Quebec issue threw another curve ball at this process, and to some people, they're the boogey man, but I think what we have to do at some point, we're going to have to address the whole issue of the sale and see how that relates," says state Sen. Barry Hobbins, a Saco Democrat and co-chair of the panel.

Hobbins had hoped to reach consensus on an energy corridor plan. Hobbins says he understands the concerns over Hydro-Quebec's looming presence, but he adds that the Canadian power behemoth is not the only competitor Maine has to worry about. And he says the state needs an energy corridor policy sooner rather than later.

"What we can't do is we can't use as an excuse for a moratorium the Hydro Quebec issue and say, "Well, we should really look at this for another year or two.' Time is against us. We are really on a timetable and in a race with the Midwestern states to be able to put renewable energy sources online here in Maine and all of the Northeast."

The commission agreed to extend its deliberations to one more meeting next month before taking a final vote and sending its recommendations to the Legislature.