President Donald Trump granted a key approval Thursday for a major new oil pipeline that would carry oil from Canada into the US where it would be exported and refined.
The three-foot-wide (1 metre) Bridger Pipeline Expansion would carry up to 550,000 barrels (87,400 cubic metres) of oil a day from the Canadian border with Montana down through eastern Montana and Wyoming, where it would link with another pipeline.
Project faces environmental scrutiny, approvals ahead
The project would require additional state and federal environmental approvals before construction, which company officials expect to start next year. Environmentalists hope to stop the project over worries that the pipeline could break and spill.
At peak volume, the 650-mile (1,050-kilometre) pipeline would move two-thirds as much oil as the better-known Keystone XL pipeline that got partially built before President Joe Biden, citing climate-change concerns, cancelled its permit on the day he took office in 2021.
Trump contrasts stance with Biden administration
“Slightly different from the last administration. They wouldn’t sign a pipeline deal. And we have pipelines going up,” Trump said after signing the Bridger Pipeline Expansion cross-border approval.
Trump in his first term approved the Keystone XL project in 2020 over the concern of Native American tribes about possible spills and environmental groups about fossil fuels’ contribution to climate change.
Biden’s Keystone XL permit cancellation the following year frustrated Canadian officials, including Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, after Alberta invested more than USD 1 billion in the project.
Pipeline route and project details outlined
Sometimes called “Keystone Light,” the Bridger Pipeline Expansion would not cross any Native American reservations. More than 70 per cent would be built within existing pipeline corridors and 80 per cent on private land, Bridger Pipeline LLC said in a statement.
The Casper, Wyoming-based company operates more than 3,700 miles (5,950 kilometres) of gathering and transmission oil pipelines in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana and the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.
Timeline tied to Trump’s term
A subsidiary of True Companies, Bridger Pipeline could avoid a reversal by a future administration if it’s able to complete its project before Trump leaves office. It hopes to start construction in the fall of 2027 and finish it by late 2028 or early 2029, Bridger spokesperson Bill Salvin said.
Trump’s term ends Jan 20, 2029.
Past spills raise safety concerns
True Company subsidiaries have been responsible for several major pipeline accidents, including more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 litres) of crude that spilled into the Yellowstone River and fouled a Montana city’s drinking water supply in 2015, a 45,000-gallon diesel spill in Wyoming in 2022, and a 2016 spill that released more than 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude in North Dakota, contaminating the Little Missouri River and a tributary.
Subsidiaries of True agreed to pay a USD 12.5 million civil penalty to settle a government lawsuit over the North Dakota and Montana spills.
Company cites AI-based safety measures
Salvin said the company has developed an AI-driven leak detection system that allows it to be notified more quickly when there are problems. It also plans to bore 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 metres) beneath major rivers, including the Yellowstone and Missouri, to reduce the chances of an accident. The 2015 accident occurred on a line that was constructed in a shallow trench at the bottom of the river.
“We designed the pipeline with integrity and safety in mind. We have emergency response plans should something happen where oil happens to get out of the line, which is fairly rare,” Salvin said.
Environmental groups oppose the project
Environmental groups, include the Montana Environmental Information Center and WildEarth Guardians, opposed to the project.
“The biggest concern we see right now is the concern inherent in all pipeline projects which is the risk of spills,” said attorney Jenny Harbine with the environmental law firm Earthjustice. “Pipelines rupture and leak. It’s just a fact of pipelines.”
Published on May 1, 2026