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Montana, North Dakota Push for Access to Canadian Pipeline

By Beacon Staff

BILLINGS – The governors of North Dakota and Montana are enlisting domestic oil producers to bring pressure on a Canadian energy company that has so far declined to let domestic crude onto a pipeline planned from Alberta to the Gulf Coast.

TransCanada hopes to start construction this year on the 1,980 mile Keystone XL pipeline. It’s part of the company’s $12 billion investment in the Alberta oil sands market.

But Montana is threatening to hold up the project — which includes about 280 miles through the state — if TransCanada doesn’t allow an “onramp” for oil producers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana.

A TransCanada executive last month told Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer the company had received little interest in an onramp.

In response, Schweitzer and North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven invited domestic oil producers to meet with TransCanada in Billings Wednesday to press their case.

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