What the proposal said, and what the decision did

No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.

The BLM is starting the environmental review process for a proposed 36-inch buried crude oil pipeline in Montana. This notice kicks off the public scoping period, where agencies and the public can weigh in on what issues the full Environmental Impact Statement should address. It'll affect public lands managed by the BLM and anyone with an interest in the pipeline's route, including landowners, tribes, and conservation groups.

In the agency’s own words

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended (MLA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to consider the effects of constructing and operating a 36-inch buried crude oil pipeline and by this notice is announcing the beginning of the scoping process to solicit public comments and identify issues.

Federal Register 2026-06320 ↗

The groups on this fight

4 groups predicted likely to care in Montana

Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Montana, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.

• American Prairie

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  American Prairie, Montana: Defending its own bison herd, formally protesting BLM's revocation of grazing permits on 63,000 public-land acres.

• Defenders of Wildlife

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, Montana: Named plaintiff in the Rock Creek Mine case, which turned on threatened grizzly bears and bull trout.

• Earthjustice

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, Montana: Counsel in the long-running litigation against the Rock Creek and Montanore mines proposed beneath the wilderness.

• Western Watersheds Project

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  American Prairie, Montana: Filed a protest against BLM's revocation of the bison grazing permits.

Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.

Who signs it

The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.

The ground

The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.

The photograph on this page: Cutthroat trout, caught and released on a western river. It’s the country this decision sits in, not the site itself. More Than Just Parks.

In court on this ground

This fight isn’t bound to a land unit in PLAN’s record yet, so there are no court cases to show for its ground.

Who holds the vote

PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.