One of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders looks to expedite the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, which may have a big impact on Montana. For many years, folks at the Montana Petroleum Association were wary of executive orders from the President’s desk, but now, Executive Director Alan Olson says things have changed.

"That's the nice thing about it, executive orders can go both ways," said Olson. "We saw a rack of executive orders for the last term of President Obama and I think we are going to see some come from President Trump."

Trumps order is sparking outrage from many environmental groups, but Olson says the pipeline would be a boon to Montana.

"There is nothing better than privately funded infrastructure development," Olson said. "We are not using tax dollars to put people to work, we are using industry to put people to work. These are projects that will pay a tremendous amount of property tax in the counties in Montana that is passes through and also give Montana crude oil another access to market."

Trump’s order is not the end of the story, it “invites” a Canadian company to resubmit its application for the pipeline, but is accompanied by other demands and negotiations. Trump is asking for the pipe used in the project to be produced in the U.S.

More From Newstalk KGVO 1290 AM & 98.3 FM