President Donald Trump signed a presidential permit on April 15, 2026 that lets Enbridge Pipelines (Southern Lights) L.L.C. keep operating an existing crude-oil pipeline where it crosses from Canada into North Dakota. The bottom line: the permit confirms continued operation of a 20-inch line at Neche, in Pembina County, running roughly 3 miles from the border to its first shut-off valve.
By the numbers, this is a renewal, not an expansion. The permit replaces one issued June 10, 2008, and it leaves the line’s cargo unchanged: crude oil and petroleum products of all kinds, refined or unrefined, from naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas to jet fuel, gasoline, kerosene and diesel. Natural gas covered by the Natural Gas Act is excluded.
The permittee is a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect subsidiary of Enbridge Inc., the Canadian corporation. On the same day, Trump signed a parallel permit for Enbridge Energy Company, Inc., covering a 30-inch pipeline border facility in St. Clair County, Michigan, replacing one that dated to April 28, 1953. That permit was published in the Federal Register as 91 FR 21217.
The conditions attached are the part investors will note. Enbridge must grant free access to inspectors from PHMSA, the federal pipeline-safety agency, and to other state and local agencies, keep the facilities in good repair, and hold the United States harmless for any environmental contamination from hazardous substances. Any change of ownership or control has to be reported in writing at once.
The figure that matters for the long term is the national-security clause. The President may take possession of the facilities, with just compensation, whenever he judges that national security requires it, and the permittee has no claim for damages from any such step. Article 1 also lets Enbridge adjust daily throughput and reverse the directional flow without seeking a new permit, while any substantial change still needs presidential approval.
If the permit ends, Enbridge must remove the border facilities at its own expense unless the President decides otherwise, and no outside party gains any enforceable right from the permit. For Enbridge’s Canadian parent, the trade is continued access to the U.S. market in exchange for a standing federal right to step in. The permit runs indefinitely until it is terminated, revoked, or surrendered, and both papers were signed the same afternoon as part of a wider set of border-crossing authorizations.
Sources
- Presidential Permit: Authorizing Enbridge Pipelines (Southern Lights) L.L.C. to Operate and Maintain Existing Pipeline Facilities at Pembina County, North Dakota, at the International Boundary Between
- Other: Authorizing Enbridge Energy Company, Inc. To Operate and Maintain Existing Pipeline Facilities at St. Clair County, Michigan, at the International Boundary Between the United States and Canada
Sources
- National Resilience Strategy President Donald J. Trump
- Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness
