Pipeline Marks Huge Step With Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

BREWER (NEWS CENTER) -- Maritime and Northeast Pipelines celebrated the completion of its latest expansion project in Brewer Thursday morning.

The natural gas supplier now has 670 miles in its transmission pipeline system, which runs from Nova Scotia all the way to Beverly Massachusetts. With the completion of its Phase Four expansion project, Maritime and Northeast the company has successfully doubled its year-round mainline capacity for the U.S. at 800 million cubic feet per day.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on site of one of Maritime's five new compressor stations built in Maine under the Phase Four. In addition to the new site in Brewer, it has also opened stations in Eliot, Westbrook, Searsmont and Woodchopping Ridge as well as added nearly two miles of new looping pipeline in Baileyville.

Governor John Baldacci attended the ceremony along with other state and local leaders and commended Maritime for its commitment to the state. He added that the increased availability of natural gas in Maine could help support local economies, attract new businesses to the state as well as promote more choices for businesses and consumers.

"We've been too dependent on foreign oil to run our homes and businesses. And we've been over a barrel too long," he said, "And whether it's wind, whether it's tidal, whether it's solar or natural gas, we need to have it all in play so we have a diversified energy portfolio so all of our eggs aren't in one basket."

The expansion project cost Maritime and Northeast nearly $300 million to complete.