Keystone XL Is That You? A New Pipeline Proposal Is Raising Alarms Across the Plains

Something familiar is stirring beneath the grasslands of Montana and Wyoming, and environmental advocates are paying close attention. A new crude oil pipeline proposal has emerged that bears an unmistakable resemblance to the Keystone XL project, one of the most contested climate battles of the past two decades, and critics say the similarities are no coincidence.

Bridger Pipeline has proposed a 36-inch pipeline stretching nearly 1,050 kilometres from Phillips County, Montana, near the Canadian border, south through eastern Montana and into Guernsey, Wyoming. With a projected capacity of up to 1.13 million barrels of Canadian crude oil per day and an estimated price tag of two billion dollars, this is no small undertaking. According to Inside Climate News, the pipeline would cross the border in nearly the same location where Keystone XL once proposed to enter the United States.

The project does not stop there. Bridger Pipeline also conducted an open season with a separate company that connects Guernsey to Cushing, Oklahoma, a major oil hub that sat directly along the former Keystone XL route. Jane Kleeb, founder of Bold Alliance, an advocacy group that spent years fighting Keystone XL, calls it a bait and switch. Meanwhile, South Bow, a Canadian company spun off from the original Keystone XL developer, is simultaneously exploring expansions that could connect Alberta oil to downstream pipelines in the United States.

What does this mean for the planet? More infrastructure locking in fossil fuel dependence signals a step backward at a moment when ecosystems and communities urgently need forward momentum. The Bureau of Land Management is currently accepting public comments on the proposal through May 1 and holding public meetings in Montana, Wyoming, and virtually. That is your window to make your voice heard.

Staying informed and speaking up during public comment periods is one of the most powerful tools everyday people have. The story of Keystone XL proved that activist communities can shape the outcome of enormous infrastructure decisions, and this moment calls for that same energy again.

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