Montana Public Radio

oil

Keystone Pipeline To Begin Construction Despite Coronavirus Concerns

By • Mar 31, 2020

Editor's Note April 02, 2020: TC Energy spokesperson Sara Rabern is referring to workers being American when she says they are "local."

A Canadian company says it plans to start construction of the disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline running from Canada through the U.S. in April after lining up customers and funding.

TC Energy says it’ll kick off construction on the oil pipeline in Phillips County, Montana while also enforcing social distancing and screening to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Feds Agree To Settle Powell County Oil Cleanup Debt

By • Feb 7, 2020
Aerial view of Deer Lodge, Montana.
Sam Beebe (CC-BY-2) / https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9094066

The U.S. Department of Treasury has agreed to settle a Montana county’s debt for the cleanup of a 2011 oil spill. Montana’s Congressional delegation announced the settlement Friday following their bipartisan pressure on the federal department.

State Redrafts Radioactive Waste Limits Following Public Comment

By • Feb 3, 2020

The State of Montana Friday redrafted several proposed regulations for the disposal of radioactive oil waste following widespread public concern.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is in the process of writing its first statewide regulatory guidelines for the disposal of Technologically-Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials, or TENORM.

The department released a draft last year.

Trump Administration Approves Keystone Pipeline On US Land

By & Matthew Brown • Jan 22, 2020
Keystone Pipeline pumping station in Nebraska.
Flickr user shannonpatrick17 http://bit.ly/2H4u5Kk (CC-BY-2) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday approved a right-of-way allowing the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline to be built across U.S. land, federal officials told The Associated Press, pushing the controversial $8 billion project closer to construction though court challenges still loom.

U.S. Appeals Court Hears Arguments Over Oil And Gas Lease Near Glacier National Park

By • Jan 21, 2020
Map of Solenex Lease site in the Badger-Two Medicine near Glacier National Park
Courtesy Montana Wilderness Association

A lengthy legal fight over an oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area near Glacier National Park continued Tuesday in federal court. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. heard arguments over the U.S. Interior Secretary’s authority to cancel the lease. 

Former U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in 2016 canceled the last two remaining oil and gas leases in the disputed area near the Rocky Mountain Front. Moncrief Oil and Solenex LLC took the Interior Department to court arguing that the agency couldn’t suddenly change its mind.

The Refuge E3: Listen To The People

By Amy Martin - Auricle Productions • Dec 17, 2019
Polar bear outside Kaktovik, Alaska
Nick Mott/Threshold / Nick Mott/Threshold

We continue our reporting from Kaktovik, Alaska—the only town within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—to find out how the conflict over drilling for oil in the refuge feels to the people who live there. 

New Report Says Keystone XL Would Exacerbate Missing Persons Crisis In Indian Country

By • Nov 25, 2019


A new report says the Keystone XL pipeline would exacerbate the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women in Montana and other Northern Plains states in the project’s proposed path.

The Refuge E2: To Secure the Blessings of Liberty

By Amy Martin - Auricle Productions • Nov 20, 2019
Sign in Kaktovik, Alaska - the only town inside the boundaries of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Nick Mott/Threshold

For 40 years, the fight over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been waged mostly from afar, in Washington, D.C. But what would oil development mean to the people who live closest to the proposed drilling area?

State-Tribal Relations Letter Demands More Comment Time On Keystone XL

By editor • Nov 13, 2019

The State-Tribal Relations Committee is pressing Montana’s Congressional delegation to do more to increase public input and tribal consultation on the Keystone XL pipeline. The move comes as the end of the public comment period for a recently updated environmental statement nears.

Threshold's The Refuge E1: Sibling Rivalry

By Amy Martin - Auricle Productions • Nov 12, 2019
A polar bear outside Kaktovik, Alaska - the only village within the boundaries of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Nick Mott / Threshold


The question for whether or not we should drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most contentious public lands debates in the United States. Even though most Americans would have a hard time finding it on a map, just about everyone seems to have very intense feelings about oil exploration in the refuge.

Pages