Submit a Comment: No “Keystone Light” Bridger Pipeline Expansion Project

Rosebud Sioux Tribe Spirit Camp, 2014 (Photo: Matt Sloan / Bold Nebraska)

This is not a drill. Or a late “April Fools'” joke.

They want to build the Keystone XL pipeline again. But this time they’re calling it “Keystone Light”.

Unfortunately, the new South Bow + Bridger Pipeline Expansion Project could pump just as much tarsands oil as the once-proposed Keystone XL pipeline, and would pose the same threats to land, tribal sovereignty, property rights and the Ogallala aquifer as before.

The current plan includes permits reportedly being sought from the current U.S. administration by South Bow, the Canadian pipeline company that TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corp.) spun-off to move the spill-prone original Keystone pipeline built in 2010 off of its balance sheet. [1]

South Bow aims to utilize some of the old Keystone XL infrastructure still in place in Canada, and partnered with U.S.-based Bridger Pipeline, which has now applied for permits from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality to build a new pipeline from Canada to Guernsey, Wyoming.

But existing infrastructure in Guernsey is not equipped to handle that much additional oil from the South Bow + Bridger pipeline. So, where does the oil go from there?

Oil industry analysts say Bridger’s proposal cannot be built without an additional brand new pipeline, from Guernsey down to the Gulf Coast refineries. [2]

So the South Bow + Bridger proposal as it exists in current permit applications is essentially a “pipeline to nowhere.”

To get the oil to the Gulf Coast where it could be utilized, analysts say one likely route could be a new pipeline — cutting east across the entire state of Nebraska — to Steele City, where it could link up with the original Keystone pipeline system that flows south to Gulf Coast refineries. [3]

We have fought and defeated the Keystone XL tarsands pipeline route through Nebraska twice before.

We will not allow this “Keystone Light” or any other tarsands pipeline through Nebraska, or the U.S.

Our unlikely alliance of farmers and ranchers, Tribal Nations, and everyday citizens who care about our land and water is watching this situation closely, and we encourage everyone to speak up now – and submit a written comment.

Contrary to longstanding American public hearing traditions, the federal government no longer allows the kind of day-long, true public hearings held by the State Dept. in Grand Island, Nebraska back in 2013 when Keystone XL was proposed.

For the Bridger project, the BLM is only accepting written comments.

That means the public “meetings” announced by the BLM last week, and scheduled already for next week in Montana, are likely only being produced in order to check that box for “public participation.” [4]

If you attend one of these public meetings, there will be NO opportunity for people to give oral testimony to federal and state regulators, or hear each other’s comments in the public forum.

Submit a written comment to make sure your voice is heard. (Comments deadline: May 1)

Thanks for standing with us to say NoKXL, and No “Keystone Light” pipeline.

The Bold team

REFERENCES

[1] “US says it is working with Canada on permitting for proposed partial Keystone XL revival,” Reuters, 3/24/26.

[2] “Bridger Eyeing a Keystone XL Resurrection? New 36-Inch Canada-to-Wyoming Crude Line Proposed,” Plainview Energy Analytics, 2/18/26.

[3] “Bridger Pipeline Aims to Create 550-Mb/d Outlet for Canadian Crude,” RBN Energy, 2/23/26.

[4] “Bridger Pipeline Expansion Project,” U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 4/1/26.