Trump OKs “Keystone Light” Pipeline
A pipeline that will bring Canadian oil to the Western U.S. has gotten the presidential green light (POLITICO Pro, subscription).
What’s going on: “President Donald Trump signed a presidential permit Thursday for a proposed pipeline that would bring oil from Canada through Montana to an existing facility in southeast Wyoming.”
- The 36-inch-diameter Bridger pipeline, which is drawing comparisons to the canceled Keystone XL and is being dubbed “Keystone Light,” “would cross a total of nearly 647 miles to deliver up to 555,000 barrels-a-day of Canadian crude into the United States. It could ultimately double that amount with additional pump stations, the company said.”
The Keystone XL connection: The Bridger project could make use of some of the existing infrastructure from the Keystone XL pipeline, which had already begun construction when it was canceled in 2021 ( Engineering News-Record).
- The owner of the Keystone XL assets, South Bow Corp., is also developing the “Prairie Connector,” a pipeline project using that infrastructure.
- The Prairie Connector endeavor, which would move oil from Alberta to the Canada–U.S. border, could eventually connect to the Bridger pipeline, South Bow said.
What comes next: Before Bridger can break ground, it must secure a Montana certificate of compliance, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management right-of-way authorization and an environmental impact statement.