TransCanada CEO says ‘market has spoken’ in favor of Keystone pipeline

TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said Thursday that there’s clear demand for his company’s proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline that would carry crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.

“The marketplace has spoken and said that they want this crude oil,” Girling said in an interview Thursday with Canada’s Business News Network. “We’ve got long-term contracts with refiners and producers in Canada — 20-year contracts.

“The market has said this is a piece of infrastructure that’s critical and very important to the North American economy and to energy security for the long-term.”

Girling, in the wide-ranging interview about the project, also sought to rebut allegations that the pipeline jeopardizes groundwater in Nebraska and other states it would traverse.

“It will be the safest pipeline ever built in the United States,” he said.

The Obama administration plans to make a final decision on whether to approve the pipeline, which would carry up to 830,000 barrels per day, later this year.

Environmental groups are battling the project, and some activists say the looming decision is a referendum on President Obama’s commitment to addressing climate change.