AUGUSTA (AP) – The Canadian government would be violating international law by blocking ships from sailing through a waterway off eastern Maine’s coast to ports where two proposed liquefied natural gas terminals would be built, Maine’s two U.S. senators said Friday.

“The (U.S.) State Department has rightly determined that the Canadian government’s limitation of the right of free passage of American vessels through the international waters of Head Harbor Passage is not consistent with the international law of the sea,” Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins said.

Canada regards the narrow Head Harbor Passage as internal Canadian waters. The Canadian ambassador said his country would not permit LNG tankers to traverse Head Harbor Passage because of environmental and safety risks.

But the U.S. State Department has stated that all vessels enjoy a non-suspendable right of passage into and out of Passamaquoddy Bay through Head Harbor Passage, the senators said.

Snowe and Collins said Head Harbor Passage provides the only connection for large ships between the Atlantic Ocean and the east coast of Washington County, making the passage critical for Maine ports.

Last week, New Brunswick asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to suspend its review of two proposed LNG projects in eastern Maine. The province said any further consideration would be useless in light of Ottawa’s decision to deny tanker access to Head Harbor Passage.

Snowe and Collins said Friday they agree that Canada should be engaged with FERC in the review process, “however the Canadian government does not have the authority to unilaterally suspend the right of innocent passage.”

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