Trump gives go-ahead to major new Canada-US oil pipeline

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Trump gives go-ahead to major new Canada-US oil pipeline

2026-05-01 05:19 Last Updated At：05:31

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — President Donald Trump granted a key approval Thursday for a major new oil pipeline that would carry oil from Canada into the U.S. where it would be exported and refined.

The three-foot-wide (1 meter) Bridger Pipeline Expansion would carry up to 550,000 barrels (87,400 cubic meters) of oil a day from the Canadian border with Montana down through eastern Montana and Wyoming, where it would link with another pipeline.

The project would require additional state and federal environmental approvals before construction, which company officials expect to start next year. Environmentalists hope to stop the project over worries that the pipeline could break and spill.

At peak volume, the 650-mile (1,050-kilometer) pipeline would move two-thirds as much oil as the better-known Keystone XL pipeline that got partially built before President Joe Biden, citing climate-change concerns, canceled its permit on the day he took office in 2021.

“Slightly different from the last administration. They wouldn’t sign a pipeline deal. And we have pipelines going up,” Trump said after signing the Bridger Pipeline Expansion cross-border approval.

Trump in his first term approved the Keystone XL project in 2020 over the concern of Native American tribes about possible spills and environmental groups about fossil fuels' contribution to climate change.

Biden's Keystone XL permit cancellation the following year frustrated Canadian officials, including Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, after Alberta invested more than $1 billion in the project.

Sometimes called “Keystone Light," the Bridger Pipeline Expansion would not cross any Native American reservations. More than 70% would be built within existing pipeline corridors and 80% on private land, Bridger Pipeline LLC said in a statement.

The Casper, Wyoming-based company operates more than 3,700 miles (5,950 kilometers) of gathering and transmission oil pipelines in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana and the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.

A subsidiary of True Companies, Bridger Pipeline could avoid a reversal by a future administration if it’s able to complete its project before Trump leaves office. It hopes to start construction in the fall of 2027 and finish it by late 2028 or early 2029, Bridger spokesperson Bill Salvin said.

Trump’s term ends Jan. 20, 2029.

True Company subsidiaries have been responsible for several major pipeline accidents including more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude that spilled into the Yellowstone River and fouled a Montana city’s drinking water supply in 2015, a 45,000-gallon diesel spill in Wyoming in 2022 and a 2016 spill that released more than 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude in North Dakota, contaminating the Little Missouri River and a tributary.

Subsidiaries of True agreed to pay a $12.5 million civil penalty to settle a government lawsuit over the North Dakota and Montana spills.

Salvin said the company has developed an AI-driven leak detection system that allows it to be notified more quickly when there are problems. It also plans to bore 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 meters) beneath major rivers including the Yellowstone and Missouri to reduce the chances of an accident. The 2015 accident occurred on a line that was constructed in a shallow trench at the bottom of the river.

“We designed the pipeline with integrity and safety in mind. We have emergency response plans should something happen where oil happens to get out of the line, which is fairly rare,” Salvin said.

Environmental groups opposed to the project include the Montana Environmental Information Center and WildEarth Guardians.

“The biggest concern we see right now is the concern inherent in all pipeline projects which is the risk of spills,” said attorney Jenny Harbine with the environmental law firm Earthjustice. “Pipelines rupture and leak. It’s just a fact of pipelines.”

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

UK raises national terror threat level after the stabbing of 2 Jewish men

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government said Thursday that the country is facing an antisemitism emergency and pledged to increase security for Jewish communities after a string of arson attacks and a double stabbing that have sparked fear and anger among Jews.

The country's official terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe after Wednesday's stabbing attack in London, which police have called an act of terrorism with potential links to Iran. Severe is the second-highest rung on a five-point scale and means intelligence agencies consider an attack highly likely in the next six months.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government “will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out” after two Jewish men, ages 34 and 76, were seriously injured in a stabbing in Golders Green, an area in north London that is an epicenter of Britain's Jewish community. Both men are in a stable condition.

But some in the community turned their anger on the government, which they say is failing to tackle antisemitism. Starmer was heckled by about 100 protesters holding signs saying “Keir Starmer, Jew harmer” when he visited Golders Green on Thursday.

The prime minister said in response that “I absolutely understand the high levels of anxiety and concern that there are.”

“Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep, and if you turn away, it grows back," he said during a televised statement at 10 Downing St. “Yet far too many people in this country diminish it.”

Police have arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder over the attack. Detectives are working to determine a motive and whether there is any link to Iranian proxies.

The suspect, whose name hasn’t been released, had “a history of serious violence and mental health issues,” police said. In 2020, he was referred to the government’s Prevent program, which tries to steer individuals away from extremism. The police force said that his file was closed later the same year, and didn't disclose the reason for the referral.

Britain’s Jewish community, which numbers about 300,000 people, has faced growing attacks online and in the streets.

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has soared since the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, according to the Community Security Trust charity.

In October, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur and fatally stabbed one man. Another man died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.

Since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, there have been a string of arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in London as well as on opponents of the Iranian government.

Police say that 28 people have been arrested over those attacks, which did not cause any injuries. A handful have been charged and one teenager has been convicted after pleading guilty.

Several arson attacks have been claimed online in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia. Israel’s government has described the group, whose name means the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, as a recently founded group with suspected links to “an Iranian proxy” that has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

An online post under the same name also claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s stabbing. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that authorities were investigating whether that claim is credible or “opportunistic.”

Security experts say its claims should be treated with caution, but the U.K. has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting Iranian opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says that more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year ending in October.

The government said the increased threat level was not solely a result of the Golders Green attack, but also due to increased danger “from Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorist threat from individuals and small groups based in the U.K.”

The threat level stood at severe for much of the time between 2014 and February 2022, when it was lowered to substantial.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of counterterrorism policing at the Metropolitan Police, said "we are seeing an elevated threat to Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions in the U.K. We’re also working against an unpredictable global situation that has consequences closer to home, including physical threats by state linked actors.”

Starmer pledged that the attacks would bring a “swift and visible” criminal justice response. Mahmood said that she's treating antisemitism as “an emergency,” describing it as the top security issue she faced.

The government announced 25 million pounds ($34 million) for more police patrols and protection around synagogues, schools and community centers, and Starmer said that the courts would speed up sentencing on antisemitic attacks as a deterrent.

But some Jews and others say the government has allowed an atmosphere of antisemitism to grow. They say pro-Palestinian protests, held regularly since October 2023, have gone beyond criticism of Israel's actions to foster an atmosphere of intimidation and hatred against Jews.

The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but some say chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” incite anti-Jewish hatred. Some protesters have been arrested for displaying support for Hamas, a banned organization in the U.K.

Jonathan Hall, the government’s reviewer of terrorism legislation, called for pro-Palestinian marches to be temporarily banned, saying they had helped “incubate” antisemitism.

The government hasn't backed a ban, but Starmer said that protesters who used the phrase “globalize the intifada” — seen by some as a call for attacks on Jews — should be prosecuted.

Starmer said that the government would fast-track powers “to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran — because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews."