FARMINGTON - Representatives of the hospital, university, town and local businesses gathered at the municipal building Tuesday morning to discuss the possibility of bringing natural gas to Farmington.

The proposal discussed at the meeting would involve a natural gas company laying a line along the old rail bed of the former Maine Central Railroad, piping in natural gas from a terminal at the Verso Paper Mill in Livermore Falls across the Androscoggin River, through Wilton and into Farmington.

The meeting between local representatives and Kenneth Fletcher, director for the Office of Energy Independence and Security and a member of the governor's staff, was arranged after discussions between Rep. Lance Harvell (R - Farmington) and Town Manager Richard Davis. Harvell said he had been mulling the possibility of using the rail bed to bring natural gas through portions of Farmington for some time.

"It just hit me that the rail line is a flat, straight shot to Jay," Harvell said. The rail bed, now the multi-use Whistle Stop Trail, stretches roughly 14.5 miles between Jay and Farmington.

The trail has several advantages. It isn't paved, allowing the pipe to be rapidly laid and covered with minimal disruption, and the rail bed is anticipated to be clear of ledge and some of the typical environmental obstacles. Furthermore, easements from private landowners would be unnecessary; the trail is owned by the state and managed by the Maine Department of Conservation. The line would also abut some of the key, potential users, such as Franklin Memorial Hospital and businesses along the Wilton Road corridor.

Harvell discussed the idea with Davis, who had been having similar thoughts and the two got together to set up the meeting. Representatives of Franklin Memorial Hospital, the University of Maine at Farmington, Greater Franklin Development Corporation and local property owners sat down with Fletcher to learn what it would take to bring natural gas to Farmington.

The answer, Fletcher said, was local demand. The pipeline would likely be financed privately, which meant that the company would need to know that its capital investment would yield a profit. A rough estimate for the cost of laying pipe is $1 million per mile, Fletcher said, although construction in this case might be cheaper due to the trail's advantages. Gas companies would look for a number of large-scale clients, Fletcher said, preferring a diverse portfolio of users to a single manufacturing plant, which could go out of business and leave the company with a useless pipeline.

"They look for the big users, the more the better," Fletcher said. Smaller-scale users such as residential property owners would be factored into the analysis later.

Local representatives felt they could offer a fairly large, diverse list of potential customers. The hospital and UMF were obvious, "low-risk" users, Fletcher said, but Davis and Alison Hagerstrom of GFDC listed a number of businesses that had expressed an interest in natural gas, including Jarden Plastics in East Wilton, PalletOne in Livermore Falls, businesses along the Wilton Road such as Comfort Inn or Walmart and a number of locations in downtown Farmington.

"It's very exciting," William Marceau, owner of Foothills Property Management, said. "Collectively, as a community, it can save all of us on our fuel costs." He estimated that 10 to 15 percent of his operating costs were heating oil.

Natural gas is significantly cheaper than heating oil, particularly as North American production has skyrocketed. At $15 per million btu, natural gas was currently more efficient than propane, another generally clean-burning fuel, at $27 per million btu, Fletcher said. The natural gas could also be use to fuel micro-turbines to produce electricity, a prospect which has interested some local businesses, and keep buildings cool in the summer, which interests the hospital and university.

The high capital costs associated with laying pipe has resulted in slow growth of the natural gas industry in Maine, despite the presence of the Maritimes & New England Pipeline running from Canada through the state. Nationally, 50 percent of homes use natural gas for heat, Fletcher said. In Maine, only 5 percent do.

"Maine leads in many other areas," Fletcher said, "but in natural gas we're kind of a neophyte."

In addition to helping existing businesses, institutions and, eventually, homeowners save money on their energy costs, those at the meeting expressed hope that hooking Farmington up to natural gas could help draw additional businesses to the area.

"It would be a selling point," Harvell said.

There are some obstacles to the proposal, the most obvious being the Androscoggin River, as well as some smaller streams. Lateral drills had been developed which could bore under the river, Fletcher said, and on land the pipe could be laid directly beneath the trail with limited interruption, especially compared to running the lines beneath roadways. After the line was buried, Fletcher said, the trail could be used once more, for both foot and motorized traffic. Natural gas delivery is covered by the state's Public Utilities Commission, who would oversee and regulate the construction and rate development.

Those at the meeting agreed the next step was to contact the MDOC and determine whether using the trail to lay natural gas lines would be an issue. After that, the group intends to develop lists of companies and organizations interested in natural gas. With that information, Fletcher said, the town could approach the four Maine natural gas delivery companies, Unitil, Bangor Gas, Maine Natural Gas and Summit Natural Gas, and request proposals.

Those companies would conduct feasibility studies to determine if the project was doable, Fletcher said, with letters of intent from clients followed by letters of commitment. Construction is generally a rapid affair; Fletcher said that a year to 18 months wouldn't be out of the question.

For now, the representatives of the interested parties are collecting information, contacting potential customers through economic and business organizations and exploring the region's options. Fletcher noted that similar, grassroots efforts had been proven successful elsewhere in the state. Reducing energy costs in Maine tended to attract significant interest, he said, as those at the meeting outlined other, local alternatives to heating fuel, including geothermal and wood pellet boilers.

"As soon as people have options, they move," Fletcher said.