It took almost a year for the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota — designed to move about 570,000 barrels per day — to lock in enough oil commitments to move forward.
Bridger Pipeline, which would terminate in Guernsey, Wyoming, is moving much faster.
Bridger Pipeline says it already has commitments for around 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
That’s roughly 89% of the 450,000 barrels per day volume the company has said it needs to green-light construction of the 650-mile pipeline, and 72% of its initial overall proposed volume, 550,000 barrels per day. The pipeline can scale to more than 1 million barrels per day.
It must still clear a federal environmental impact statement, as well as gather a multitude of state and local permits, even as an emerging coalition of opponents have already signaled they’re ready to fight the pipeline in court.
Gov. Mark Gordon told Cowboy State Daily the fact Bridger pipeline is already almost “full” is itself proof of the need and desire for this kind of infrastructure in Wyoming and the nation.
“Guernsey is such a great location to be able to go to nationwide,” Gordon said. “And people in Wyoming are energy sophisticates in a lot of ways. So, they understand how pipelines work and what happens, and this is a good route.
"It makes sense to me that people would say, ‘I like it,’ and, ‘Let’s get this done.’"
When completed, Bridger pipeline will carry Canadian crude oil to a major hub in Guernsey. From there, that oil can move through other pipelines to markets in Illinois, Salt Lake City, and the Gulf Coast, feeding some of North America’s most important refineries.
Guernsey’s Strategic Role
On a map, Guernsey seems like a small dot, but in the oil and gas world, it is a vital connection point for oil and gas transportation. It’s described by many analysts as one of the most active crude oil trading hubs in the Rockies.
Multiple companies, including Tallgrass Energy also have a high volume of regional storage capacity there as well as pipelines, which accommodate crude oil from Canada, the Bakken, and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.
Company officials with Bridger Pipeline did not return Cowboy State Daily’s phone call for more information about the commitments they have received, but Reuters reported the top shippers with commitments on the line as Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Tamarack Valley, Whitecamp Resources, and Strathcona Resources. They are all Canadian companies.
On A Fast Track — For Now
It was just last week when President Donald Trump signed Bridger Pipeline’s permits. Bridger Pipeline is wasting no time making good on the permission to build a cross-border pipeline.
In regulatory filings and public statements, the company says it has already held dozens of landowner meetings and secured surveying easements or allowances from 374 of 376 landowners along the route.
That’s a process that, by itself, can take months to years to complete.
So much early cooperation is a rarity in the pipeline world, particularly when one considers the bitter fights that ensued after the Dakota Access Pipeline and Keystone XL projects were announced.
Another factor weighing in Bridger Pipeline’s favor are costs. Keystone XL had a price tag of $8 billion to carry up to 870,000 barrels per day. Bridger Pipeline will carry about two-thirds of that amount for a price tag estimated at about $2 billion.
Some of that cost savings is possible because the route will follow existing infrastructure and rights of way already established by other pipelines Bridger Pipeline owns.
But it’s too early to proclaim it a done deal.
There are still many tasks ahead of the pipeline, and even with landowners largely on board and costs in its favor, Bridger still faces a gauntlet of reviews and questions about its safety record.
State and local permits also remain outstanding. And, on federal lands, the Bureau of Land Management will still have to review the project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which will be focusing mainly on the pipeline’s crossings beneath the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers.
That kind of environmental statement normally has taken a minimum of a couple of years to complete in years past, but the Trump administration has been streamlining the process.
BLM has publicly said it will fast-track the review and is aiming to issue an EIS in the Fall of 2026. That should put the project on a timeline for construction starting in July of 2027.
Opponents Question Spill Record
Bridger has been criticized by environmental groups for past pipeline spills in North Dakota and Montana, including a 2015 Yellowstone River spill and a 2022 diesel spill in rural Wyoming.
The company has told media outlets those spills were due to outdated practices that have since been improved, and that the company has taken steps to learn from these mistakes so that they won’t happen again.
Those efforts have included creation of an AI leak detection spinoff called Flowstate, which filed patents in 2018, after then-North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum challenged the state’s oil and gas industry to reach zero spills.
The prototype was created by teaming up with IBM software developers. It leverages pipeline data with machine learning to both reduce false alarms and more quickly detect real problems.
Bridger Pipeline has said publicly they will use horizontal drilling under the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, as well as other best practices to minimize spill risk.
Strong Wyoming Roots Behind Bridger Pipeline
Wyoming leaders are quick to point out that Bridger Pipeline is backed by True Companies, owned by a fourth-generation oil and gas family whose name is synonymous in the Cowboy State with oil and gas.
Wyoming wildcatter Henry Alphonso “Dave” True Jr. started looking for oil in the 1940s. The wildcatter was successful.
Soon, he and his three sons had expanded their businesses into a network that includes dozens of companies — drilling, pipelines, trucking, oil trading, oil equipment, geothermal energy, and real estate among them.
The family also has extensive investments in cattle ranching, and are one of Wyoming’s largest landowners. They are prominent donors to both the University of Wyoming and a conservative legal foundation in the Rockies.
“I don’t know exactly what their plans are, but Bridger is a Wyoming company, and that family cares a lot about Wyoming,” Gordon said. “People will book the capacity in that pipeline, and then they can sell it, so we’ll see how the marketing goes. But having that supply at Guernsey just makes it a more desirable location.”
Wyoming Energy Authority Deputy Director Kyle Wendtland agreed.
“We support the continued advancement of critical Wyoming-grown infrastructure projects,” he said. “The Bridger Pipeline aligns with federal and Wyoming priorities to unleash domestic energy production, streamline infrastructure development, and strengthen North American energy partnership.”
Wyoming already has a strong track record when it comes to delivering large-scale infrastructure projects, Wendtland added.
“The Bridger Pipeline reflects that our state has long understood that energy dominance is built through strategic investment in infrastructure, responsible development of resources and strong partnerships,” he added.
Wyoming Petroleum Association’s Ryan McConaughey, meanwhile, said it highlights Wyoming’s relevance to national energy security.
“If the reports are even close to the reality on the ground, it’s proof that Wyoming’s existing energy infrastructure and the state’s reputation as a good place to develop are attracting investments that will benefit Wyoming for generations to come,” he said.
Opposition Emerging
Even as Wyoming officials and landowners have largely embraced the project, opposition is already forming elsewhere.
Bridger pipeline officials have said they would consider building a pipeline segment to continue Bridger Pipeline through Nebraska — one of the territories that proved to be a thorn in Keystone XL’s side with its well-organized coalition of farmers and Native American groups.
Spokesmen for those groups have already said they will fight any pipeline that tries to go through their state.
Earthjustice, meanwhile, has issued statements opposing Bridger Pipeline and said it will be keeping “a close eye” on the federal government’s environmental analysis, to ensure the agency had truly done its due diligence.
“The proposed Bridger tar sands pipeline is an environmental disaster waiting to happen,” Earthjustice Northern Rockies Office Managing Attorney Jenny Harbine said. “The Trump administration appears more than willing to limit public engagement to force this project through.
"Communities and Tribes in the Northern Rockies have a right to know how this could impact their water sources, historic resources, and ways of life. If the administration attempts to sidestep that legal obligation, we’ll see them in court.”
Such comments show that while Bridger Pipeline has moved faster than many past pipeline projects at this stage, it still faces a long road through environmental reviews, permitting, and, likely, litigation.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
