A CANADIAN COMPANY is proposing an expansion of a major natural gas pipeline that provides energy up and down the Northeast, including in Massachusetts — entering the thicket of the affordability debates blanketing the region and country, and giving a jolt to the volatile politics of energy policy.

Enbridge, a Calgary-owned gas pipeline company, announced its Project Beacon proposal that would upgrade the existing Algonquin pipeline system, which carries natural gas from New Jersey into Massachusetts.

“Project Beacon would help meet growing energy demand by easing longstanding pipeline bottlenecks that have contributed to higher energy costs for consumers,” Max Bergeron, an Enbridge spokesperson, said in a statement. “By improving access to abundant domestic energy supplies, the project aims to reduce price spikes and strengthen the region’s energy system.”

Enbridge’s announcement is bound to ignite a firestorm and set off a host of thorny questions, from where the project’s financing will come from to the region’s larger reliance on fossil fuels for power generation and heating.

Project Beacon could be in service by 2030 and generate up to $2 billion per year in savings generated by increased supply — if financing and regulatory approvals are obtained, Bergeron said.

And, he said, Project Beacon could help alleviate reliance on oil, a much more polluting fuel that was burned to generate electricity during a cold spell this past winter in New England. Limited natural gas pipeline capacity in New England has long been a concern, particularly in winter months, when demand spikes.

Dan Dolan, the president of the New England Power Generations Association, said the companies he represents would be “very interested” in the expansion, but how it is paid for will be “the fundamental challenge.”

Pipeline companies like Enbridge, he said in an interview, often want 20- or 30-year contracts secured from utilities or power plants to purchase the natural gas.

“My biggest question is who is going to step in, if anyone,” Dolan said. “That is the primary hurdle that has frustrated large-scale natural gas pipeline developments in New England for years.”

Whether the project will have political support from top state Democrats remains to be seen. Gov. Maura Healey’s position on natural gas will again be put to the test as the proposal lands right in the middle of her reelection campaign.

Healey, to some surprise, supported a smaller gas expansion from Enbridge last year. And she now regularly calls out gas as an acceptable and even necessary form of energy as a means of growing supply and subsequently cutting costs under her “all of the above” approach that also includes solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and nuclear, despite past opposition to fossil fuels.

“Governor Healey has previously supported increasing gas supply into the state through the Algonquin pipeline, alongside expanding affordable, clean offshore wind, solar and hydropower,” Jillian Fennimore, a spokesperson for Healey, said in a statement. “The governor will review this proposal carefully to make sure it is a good deal for ratepayers.”

Massachusetts has some of the country’s highest energy costs, with average electricity prices surging to double the national average. Rising electric and gas bills have prompted a scramble on Beacon Hill, including a legislative effort to significantly reduce the budget of Mass Save, an energy efficiency program, and a since-scrapped plan to weaken the 2030 climate commitments.

The exact size of the proposed expansion isn’t yet clear. Enbridge has launched a process to gauge future natural gas demand from utility companies and power plants.

That process, known as an open season, began on Monday, and companies have until July 1 to express interest, according to a notice released by Enbridge obtained by CommonWealth Beacon. That document also outlines plans for Enbridge to increase natural gas storage capacity throughout the region.

At least one company, National Grid, is seemingly open to the proposal.

“New England’s energy supply has not kept pace with demand, particularly during peak winter periods, which can drive higher costs for both gas and electric customers,” Brendan Moss, a spokesperson for National Grid, said in a statement. “Expanding access to reliable, lower-cost energy supply can help improve affordability, reduce volatility, support system reliability, and strengthen economic competitiveness across the region.”

Enbridge didn’t respond to additional questions, including about where specifically on the Algonquin line the expansions are targeted. But because Algonquin is one of the largest natural gas pipelines that serves Massachusetts, any meaningful expansion to it would have a direct impact on the state.

The company had previously briefed White House officials on its plans.

Environmental advocates are likely to push back on any effort to lock in more fossil fuel infrastructure, which can be expensive in its own right and threaten to slow down the green energy transition.

Natural gas already accounts for roughly half of New England’s electricity consumption, a figure that must be significantly reduced for the region to decarbonize its economy, especially as Massachusetts officials push to deploy electric vehicles and heat pumps at a faster rate.

Enbridge has been at the center of earlier fights over fossil fuel use in the state.

The company announced its Project Maple proposed expansion of the Algonquin gas line in 2023, which would boost capacity in Salem. That plan has not yet advanced and has faced fierce opposition from environmental groups.

And a yearslong battle on the South Shore over a new compressor in Weymouth ultimately led to more natural gas flowing through the facility when it opened in 2021.

Enbridge’s latest proposal, though still light on details, is poised to be a lightning rod as soaring energy prices are colliding with rising power demand and ambitious climate commitments, whose deadlines are only creeping closer.

“There is more interest today on at least exploring growing natural gas supplies than there has been in years in New England,” Dolan said. “And a lot of it is a function of the fact that resource choices on things like offshore wind have been frustrated, affordability is coming as a refocused political priority, and there is explicit discussion of an all-of-the-above approach to energy. You have coupled that with the most pro-pipeline federal administration I can ever remember.”

That doesn’t mean the proposed pipeline expansion is certain to happen, he said, “but the odds have certainly improved.”