Montana’s environmental agency has rescinded a waiver for the proposed Bridger pipeline expansion that would have allowed its developer to omit certain information from its permit application — a move cheered Wednesday by residents who challenged it in June.
Earthjustice, which is representing the two Montana residents, said the decision from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality was a setback for Bridger’s planned oil pipeline, which nabbed a cross-border permit from President Donald Trump in late April. Bridger, however, pushed back on Earthjustice’s depiction of its application and underlined that the company is committed to complying with local, state and federal regulations.
DEQ’s move follows a complaint Earthjustice lodged last month on behalf of two Montana residents that challenged the agency’s decision in February to issue a waiver for Bridger. In that filing, Earthjustice said the information that would’ve been exempted — including certain financial and baseline environmental data — is critical to the project’s review. Bridger stressed that it had always planned to submit all required information at a later time.
In an email last week to Earthjustice, a Montana DEQ lawyer said the agency had “effectively rescinded” its previous authorized omissions for Bridger and that DEQ is “requiring Bridger to produce the information in question.” The email followed a letter a day earlier where DEQ responded to Earthjustice’s June complaint.
