TransCanada CEO denies cozy ties with State Department

TransCanada CEO Russ Girling is pushing back against allegations from green groups that his company enjoys cozy ties with the State Department that are tainting the review of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

“It is the latest tactic by those opposed to our project to discredit the regulatory process, the regulators, our company and our employees,” Girling said Friday in Washington, D.C.

{mosads}The comments come days after Friends of the Earth released emails between a TransCanada lobbyist and a State Department official that detailed a series of friendly exchanges. More on that here.

Girling spoke at a press conference alongside officials with business groups and a labor union supporting the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline, which would bring crude from Alberta’s oil sands to Gulf Coast refiners.

The comments came shortly before the State Department — which is heading the federal review of the proposed $7 billion project — opened a public hearing in D.C. about the pipeline.

Girling said the pipeline — which would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels daily — would enhance U.S. energy security, create 20,000 jobs and operate under strict safety standards.

Environmental groups, which call the jobs estimates inflated, oppose the pipeline due to greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands projects, and the prospect of pipeline spills that could contaminate farmland and drinking water in states along the route.

“The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is a bad deal for America. The sole purpose of the proposed pipeline is to deliver profits to a foreign oil company: TransCanada,” said Sarah Hodgdon, the Sierra Club’s director of conservation, at the public hearing.

She said the pipeline presents “massive environmental and health risks” and said spills are “not a matter of if, but when.”

The State Department plans to make a final decision on the proposed project by the end of the year.