Wyoming
Regulators seek public input for massive Montana-Wyoming oil pipeline proposal – WyoFile
State and federal officials are seeking public comment on the proposed Bridger Pipeline Expansion project to carry Canadian crude from the border in Phillips County, Montana, to a terminal near Guernsey.
The massive 36-inch-diameter pipeline would span 647 miles and move about 550,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The proposed route includes about 210 miles across Crook, Weston, Niobrara, Goshen and Platte counties in eastern Wyoming, according to developer Bridger Pipeline Expansion. The company is a subsidiary of Casper-based Bridger Pipeline LLC, which owns a network of oil pipelines, including the Belle Fourche and Butte pipelines that connect North Dakota, Montana and eastern Wyoming oilfields to the Guernsey storage and interconnect hub.
Bridger Pipeline is owned by True Cos., which has had several significant pipeline spills, including a 45,000-gallon diesel spill in eastern Wyoming in 2022 and an incident that spewed more than 50,000 gallons of Bakken crude into the Yellowstone River in Montana in 2015.
The U.S. Bureau of Management is the lead federal regulatory authority “to review potential impacts of the entire project to ensure environmental, cultural and community considerations are fully evaluated,” according to a BLM press release. The company has also applied to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for a “certificate of compliance” required under the state’s Major Facility Siting Act, which triggers a parallel environmental review under Montana’s Environmental Policy Act.
The 30-day public scoping and comment period initiated this week will help both federal and Montana officials identify potential impacts and alternatives. The agencies will co-host one virtual and three in-person public meetings, to be announced at a later date (check here for updates), they said.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality “will serve as a participating agency” in the BLM’s review, according to the department.
You can learn more about the environmental review for the project here, and choose the “participate now” tab to submit a comment.
Keystone Light?
Some locals in eastern Wyoming refer to the project as “Keystone Light,” a Niobrara County rancher told WyoFile. The name, borrowed from a beer, is a nod to the notion that the Bridger Pipeline Expansion would help fill the industry’s aspiration for the Keystone XL oil pipeline project abandoned in 2021.
Amid major opposition and protests, President Joe Biden — on his first day in office — cited his plans to address climate change by revoking a Trump-era permit for Keystone XL, which was required for the border crossing. The Bridger Pipeline Expansion will also require a presidential permit for the international border crossing, according to the BLM.
Similar to the Bridger Pipeline Expansion, Keystone XL would have transported Canadian oil-sands crude, but was larger — designed for up to 830,000 barrels per day. Its proposed route also differed, crossing in Montana and spanning portions of South Dakota and Nebraska.
One major advantage of the Bridger project, according to company officials, is that the Canada-Montana-Wyoming route follows many existing rights-of-way. About half of the route in Montana is parallel to existing pipelines, and a little more than half of the 210-mile route in Wyoming follows existing pipeline corridors, according to a project description provided by the BLM.
Additionally, the developer owns much of that existing infrastructure: “The Project would parallel Bridger‐owned infrastructure for roughly 138 miles in Montana and 100 miles in Wyoming.”
The route includes about 6 miles of BLM-managed lands in northeast Wyoming, as well as about 5 miles of Thunder Basin National Grassland, managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The federal review includes the Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Construction could begin by July 2027 and would employ about 400 workers for each of four stages of development, according to a BLM planning document.
Health and environmental concerns
In 2023, Bridger Pipeline and its subsidiary Belle Fourche Pipeline Company paid $12.5 million to resolve penalties related to a series of pipeline spills and alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and federal pipeline safety laws.
The company’s track record, combined with allegedly lax oversight by state regulators, is cause for concern, said Jill Morrison, who serves on the board of the Sheridan-based landowner advocacy group Powder River Basin Resource Council.
“They’ve had a lot of spills and breaks,” Morrison told WyoFile. “Are they going to up their game to be more on top of ensuring we don’t have spills and breaks like other pipelines?”
For its part, Bridger Pipeline says it has launched an artificial leak detection company, FlowState, that monitors its pipeline systems. FlowState was awarded a $2 million Energy Matching Funds state grant in 2024.
Parent company True Cos. created FlowState because it couldn’t find a leak-detection system on the market that satisfied its needs, “so we built one,” Bridger Pipeline spokesman Bill Salvin told WyoFile.
“We have had some instances where our pipelines have leaked — that’s simply a fact,” Salvin said, adding that some of the company’s leaks were related to outdated practices that have since been improved industrywide. “Every one of those incidents is terribly unfortunate. That’s how we view it: We don’t want any [spill] incidents.
“What’s most important to us,” Salvin continued, “is when those incidents happen, that we respond very quickly and with everything we have, and that we learn from them so they don’t happen again. And that’s why we’ve got FlowState today.”
Mostly sunny in much of Wyoming on Sunday with a chance of rain in some areas. Partly cloudy overnight. Highs in the 60s and low 70s. Lows in the 30s and low 40s.
Central:
Casper: Slight chance of rain, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 72 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 11 p.m., a low near 42 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.
Riverton: Sunny and breezy today with a high near 73 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 41 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.
Jeffrey City: Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 69 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 38 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.
Southwest:
Evanston: Mostly sunny today with a high near 66 and mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 38.
Green River: Mostly sunny today with a high near 71 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 41 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.
Kemmerer: Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 66 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.
Western Wyoming:
Pinedale: Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 64 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 32 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.
Alpine: Mostly sunny today with a high near 69 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 38.
Big Piney: Mostly sunny today with a high near 66 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Partly cloudy and blustery overnight with a low near 29 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.
Northwest:
Dubois: Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 61 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.
Jackson: Sunny today with a high near 68 and mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 11 p.m. and a low near 37.
Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park: Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 59 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 7 p.m. and a low near 31.
Bighorn Basin:
Thermopolis: Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 73 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 41.
Cody: Chance of rain mainly after 4 p.m., otherwise partly sunny and breezy today with a high near 69 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 42.
Lovell: Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 73 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 41.
North Central:
Buffalo: Chance of rain mainly after 1 p.m., otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 65 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 43.
Sheridan: Slight chance of rain, gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 70 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 40.
Dayton: Chance of rain mainly after 2 p.m., otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 69 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain and a low near 41.
Northeast:
Gillette: Slight chance of rain, gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 68 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 41 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.
Newcastle: Chance of rain mainly after noon, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 68 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 42 and wind gusts as high as 18 mph.
Hulett: Chance of rain mainly before noon, gradually clearing today with a high near 70 and wind gusts as high as 17 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 41 and wind gusts as high as 16 mph.
Eastern Plains:
Torrington: Slight chance of rain after 4 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 74 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 39.
Douglas: Slight chance of rain, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 72 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 38.
Midwest: Slight chance of rain, otherwise mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 71 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 39 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.
Southeast:
Cheyenne: Slight chance of rain after noon, increasing clouds today with a high near 69 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 41.
Laramie: Chance of slight rain after noon, increasing clouds today with a high near 64 and mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 38.
Chugwater: Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 69 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 43.
South Central:
Rawlins: Mostly sunny today with a high near 66 and mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 43.
Saratoga: Mostly sunny today with a high near 67 and mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 39.
Wamsutter: Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 66 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 39 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.
Terra Power CEO Chris Levesque joined the Bill Gates-backed firm after years working in the legacy nuclear power industry which he says was slow to innovate.
Kirk Siegler/NPR
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Kirk Siegler/NPR
Kemmerer, WYO — The infamous Wyoming wind is whipping an American flag hoisted above the construction site of what’s only the fourth nuclear reactor to be built in the U.S. this century, and one of the first in a new generation of advanced designs.
“We’re building an advanced nuclear plant but so many aspects of the plant and of the business are the same as the sixty-year-old coal plant that’s down the road,” says Chris Levesque, Terra Power’s CEO, as he gestures to the west where the old Naughton plant stands.
The Washington state-based Terra Power, founded by Bill Gates, says this will be the first of many, part of a new nuclear renaissance they want to bring to long time energy exporting states like Wyoming. Levesque says the company’s “advanced reactor” technology makes nuclear plants safer and quicker to build.
“There is an energy crisis, it’s concerning,” Levesque says.
The recent beginning of construction here comes amid forecasts that an artificial intelligence boom means that data centers in the U.S. are going to need about 130% more energy by 2030. That’s according to the International Energy Agency.
To help meet that demand, Big tech companies and the federal government are partnering to invest billions of dollars in new nuclear power plants.
Nuclear boosters think its NIMBYism problem is in the past
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave Terra Power final approval to begin construction in March. This capped five years of studies and safety demonstrations and a decision to site the plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming which won bids over numerous other western towns.
“There is a whole different story to begin with, is communities vying for a nuclear power plant,” Levesque says. “The old story on nuclear was more of a ‘not in my backyard thing.’”
Levesque, who came to Terra Power after a career in the legacy nuclear industry, thinks new technologies and demand for low emission power is changing this. Almost everything here will be buried underground and they’ll use liquid sodium metal instead of water to cool the reactor.
“Milestones like this really show people that, yeah, this is a new technology but we’re doing it,” he says. “It’s real and people can start to work this into their plans.”
If all goes to plan and the plant is online by 2031, Terra Power says it will make enough electricity for a utility to power almost half a million homes – likely in nearby Salt Lake City. The company has also inked agreements with META for several more reactors to power the tech company’s data centers specifically.
“Since we were selected by the Department of Energy, we’ve had a project going for five years that’s switched administrations, switched parties, switched multiple controls of Congress,” Levesque says.
Rocky Mountain states join the race to win DOE nuclear hubs
A recent press release from the company marking the beginning of full-scale construction in Kemmerer included quotes praising the project from Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon and the state’s entire congressional delegation.
The Department of Energy pilot program that spurred Terra Power’s first project began during the first Trump administration. Then, the Biden-administration’s Infrastructure Law fronted half of the costs of construction, about two billion dollars.
Wyoming’s Republican Senators voted against that bill. But the state is eagerly courting nuclear energy plants and new uranium mines. So is neighboring Idaho, home to a federal nuclear lab, and Utah, where Governor Spencer Cox recently staged a press conference in the barren scrubland west of Salt Lake City.
“If you are serious about energy abundance, you have to be serious about nuclear energy,” Cox said, as he went on to unveil Utah’s application to be one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s new nuclear hubs.
It’s billed as a “nuclear life cycle innovation campus” where they’d enrich nuclear fuel, recycle it and store its waste, including one day possibly that generated by the Kemmerer plant.
Cox noted that nuclear already supplies roughly a fifth of all the electricity on the U.S. grid.
“This should not be controversial,” the Republican says. “America built the nuclear industry.”
Some environmentalists question how green nuclear is
But nuclear still is controversial, especially in the West with its legacy of abandoned uranium mines and radioactive waste particularly in Indian Country. And Salt Lake City was downwind from Cold War Era nuclear weapons test sites.
“This area has been considered a sacrifice zone for a long time,” says Lexi Tuddenham, executive director of Healthy Environment Alliance Utah, or HEAL.
Skeptical about a nuclear renaissance, Lexi Tuddenham, executive director of Health Environment Alliance for Utah, is concerned about her state’s proposal to store nuclear waste near the Great Salt Lake.
Kirk Siegler/NPR
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Kirk Siegler/NPR
Tuddenham is alarmed that Utah wants to site its proposed nuclear hub some ten miles from the western shore of the drying Great Salt Lake. She says nuclear is being rebranded as green but that ignores the ongoing problem of where to store its radioactive waste.
“Bill Gates is paying for this first one, we as taxpayers are also paying for this first one, I will say,” Tuddenham says. “But what about the next one and the next one? How much are we going to be on the hook for as taxpayers, as rate payers, as we go down this path?”
Terra Power says like conventional nuclear reactors, its plant in Wyoming will store its spent fuel on site until a permanent repository is approved by the feds. They say it’s safe and the “advanced nuclear” tech produces less waste than legacy plants.
An old coal town is eager for a nuclear rebirth
In Wyoming, the country’s top coal producing state, one thing that’s not in dispute is that Kemmerer is eager for any sort of energy boom. When the West Coast divested from coal, national headlines all but wrote off this town of 3,000 as dying.
“That’s what we were concerned about is no longer being an exporter of power, cause that’s a majority of our jobs,” says Brian Muir, city administrator in Kemmerer.
Kemmerer, Wyoming city administrator Brian Muir was hired by the city in 2019 to help find new economic opportunities when at that time the coal mine had gone bankrupt and the nearby coal power plant was slated to be decommissioned.
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Kirk Siegler/NPR
But today he says there’s relief and optimism around town. Hundreds of skilled jobs are being created. Due to the high demand for electricity, the old coal plant isn’t completely shutting either. Some of its generators are being converted to natural gas which will preserve about 100 existing jobs.
“I’ll just say, when Bill Gates came here, he talked about our high energy IQ,” Muir says. “We know about all forms of energy and the benefits and the costs and the risks and the footprints and all of that, we understand that.”
Muir says Kemmerer is already lobbying Terra Power to build a second nuclear plant here.
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