TransCanada: Pipeline would not affect climate

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top executive of a Canadian company that has proposed an oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas says the project will have no measurable effect on global warming.

Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president for energy and oil pipelines, said opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have grossly inflated its likely impact on emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

Pourbaix said Tuesday that Canada represents just 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that oil sands concentrated in Alberta, where the pipeline would start, make up 5 percent of Canada's total. Pourbaix said simple math indicates that oil sands represent just one-tenth of 1 percent of greenhouse emissions.

Opponents say the pipeline would carry "dirty oil" that adds to global warming.