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Keystone XL Developer Taps Bozeman Contractor For 2021 Work

Miles of unused pipe, prepared for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, sit in a lot outside Gascoyne, N.D., in 2014.

The Canadian developer of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline is going ahead with worker hirings amid ongoing legal challenges to construction.

TC Energy this week announced over $1.6 billion in contracts with six companies in Texas, Wisconsin and Montana for pipeline construction in those states set to begin next year.

TC Energy says Bozeman-based Barnard Construction is one of the six contractors responsible for hiring more than 7,000 union workers with priority to local and Indigenous-owned businesses.

Barnard Construction was previously tapped for Keystone XL support infrastructure in northern Montana.

TC Energy announced in August it’ll work with four national unions including Laborers International Union of North America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters.

TC Energy spokesperson Sara Rabern says there are 1,500 workers active in the U.S. TC Energy plans to employ more than 11,000 workers total in 2021.

Keystone XL is the subject of several lawsuits from tribes and environmental groups attempting to stop construction.

Kayla writes about energy policy, the oil and gas industry and new electricity developments.