Oil Pipeline Proposed to Cross Northeast Montana

A proposal has been submitted to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for a 645-mile pipeline project, slated to pass through multiple counties in northeast Montana. According to the Billings Gazette, the pipeline would carry more than half a million barrels of Canadian crude oil per day through parts of the region for Bridger Pipeline, based in Casper, Wyo.

The proposed pipeline would begin near the Canadian border, north of Malta, then eastward, avoiding the northern boundary of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation before turning south along the Montana– Dakotas border. The southern terminus is set for Guernsey, Wyo.

The Gazette reports roughly 80 percent of the proposed route crosses private land, with 10 percent crossing Bureau of Land Management property and another 10 percent crossing state land.

The pipeline project will cross several waterways, including the Missouri River, the West Fork of the Poplar River and the Yellowstone.

One of Bridger Pipeline’s project spilled an estimated 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River in 2015.

The document filed with the DEQ allows the lengthy environmental impact review process to begin under Montana’s Major Facility Siting Act. Additional state and federal approvals will also be required, up to and including a presidential permit.

Bridger estimates construction could begin as early as July 2027.