Secrecy breeds fear and contempt. If the Passamaquoddy Tribe wants to win support for a proposed liquefied natural gas facility in Washington County, then it needs to play by the same rules as the rest of the state and participate in an open and honest process.

The Bangor Daily News and the Quoddy Tides, a newspaper published in Eastport, have sued the tribe under Maine’s freedom of information act to acquire information about a proposed LNG facility at Pleasant Point.

According to the BDN, the tribe has ignored requests for information about the deal it has cut with Quoddy Bay LLC, an Oklahoma company that would build the facility. Reporters have also been denied access to Tribal Council meetings in which the proposal has been discussed.

This is not the first time the tribe has tried to overcome the requirements of Maine’s freedom of information law. During efforts to build a major casino in Southern Maine, the tribe’s referendum question that voters rejected included troubling exclusions from the law, which contributed to its defeat.

Maine law requires that government be conducted in public. A liquefied natural case facility goes beyond an internal tribal matter. If affects directly surrounding communities and the entire state.

For the tribe’s plan to succeed – to overcome organized opposition from its neighbors, Canada and some environmental groups – it will need the support of the state and its people. Shutting them out of the process, hiding behind claims of immunity from the law and operating in a shadow world of backroom deals is no way to win support.

The Sun Journal has tentatively supported the concept of locating a liquefied natural gas terminal in Maine as a way to bring economic development to the state and meet the needs of a volatile energy market. But to win over its critics, the Passamaquoddies will need to be forthcoming about the tribe’s plans.

The lawsuit could reach the courts by October. It would be in the best interest of the tribe and the LNG proposal to make public its records before then. Even if the tribe somehow wins its case and keeps the details of the LNG facility secret, the victory will be Pyrrhic. It will have lost the trust of many of the very people it needs for success and given its opponents one more avenue of assault.