In eastern Montana, a new oil pipeline comes with perils and a potential payday — SkimNews
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- Bridger Pipeline LLC plans to build a 650-mile pipeline to transport tar sands oil from eastern Montana and Wyoming to Guernsey, Wyoming, with construction expected to begin within a year after securing a presidential permit from President Donald Trump.
- Jerry Arnold, a Montana farmer, stands to receive a significant payment for allowing the pipeline to cross his land, echoing financial relief he received in the 1980s from the Northern Border Pipeline during a prior agricultural crisis.
- Bridger has paid around 450 landowners along the preferred route for survey access, though total compensation remains undisclosed, and final easement agreements depend on ongoing negotiations and environmental review.
- Daniels County Commissioner Tammi Fladager supports the project, citing the county’s economic desperation and lack of existing pipeline tax revenue, calling the potential influx a 'pork chop falling on the floor' for eastern Montana.
- Bob Thielen, a rancher on the proposed route, expresses skepticism about the pipeline’s completion due to past experiences with the canceled Keystone XL, and questions the transparency of where the oil will go and who will benefit.
- Bridger and partner South Bow plan a second pipeline from Guernsey, Wyoming, to Cushing, Oklahoma, where crude could be stored or exported via Gulf Coast refineries, though the company cannot confirm if the project will lower U.S. fuel prices.
Why it matters: Eastern Montana landowners and counties stand to gain immediate financial relief from pipeline payments and future tax revenue in a region starved for economic growth, but the project’s benefit to the broader American public is unclear given the likely export of refined crude and lack of guaranteed fuel price reductions.
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