AUGUSTA (AP) – The Justice Department asked a judge Tuesday to bar the Maine Public Utilities Commission from proceeding with a contempt hearing for Verizon that stems from telephone customer complaints related to allegations about domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency.

A multi-customer complaint filed with the Maine PUC last May effectively seeks to force Verizon to say whether it provided telephone call records to the government without a warrant.

The PUC has challenged the adequacy of Verizon responses to date and set a hearing for Friday.

In a federal court filing Tuesday, the Justice Department said PUC officials had been put on notice months ago that the federal government believes the information being sought about an alleged involvement of Verizon with the NSA “cannot be disclosed.”

The Justice Department requested a judicial order to keep the Maine PUC from moving forward until a court decides “what is clearly a federal question without the immediate threat of disclosure of the very information that is at issue in this case – information that, if disclosed, might reveal or tend to reveal highly significant federal classified intelligence activities.”

In addition to seeking to block PUC action, the Justice Department said the order it was requesting would bar Verizon from responding to PUC demands “because of the substantial risk of direct or inadvertent disclosure of information that would tend to confirm or deny the existence of foreign intelligence activities.”

Justice Department lawyer Alexander Haas said he had no comment. Department spokesman Charles Miller confirmed that the request for a court order was aimed at Friday’s scheduled PUC hearing.

Assistant Maine Attorney General Chris Taub said the state planned to formally respond on Wednesday in advance of a Thursday hearing in U.S. District Court in Bangor before Judge John Woodcock.

“We’re going to oppose the motion and ask the court to permit the PUC hearing to take place as scheduled,” Taub said.

A message seeking comment from a Verizon spokesman was not immediately answered.

Verizon, in answer to last May’s customer complaint, issued a response on May 19, 2006, in which it referred to points made in two press releases, including one that declared the company was not asked for records by the NSA and did not provide such records.

The PUC subsequently ordered Verizon, on Aug. 9, to affirm in writing that its representations to the commission were true.

On Aug. 21, the same day that the U.S. Justice Department originally filed suit against the PUC and Verizon asserting that the PUC was pre-empted by federal law from investigating the alleged spying program, Verizon said it would not submit an affirmation, citing legal action by the federal government.

Since then, the PUC has sought to have the federal suit dismissed and the complaint case has not moved forward.

Ten days ago on Jan. 29, the PUC voted 3-0 to hold a contempt hearing.

AP-ES-02-06-07 1508EST