By NewsMax Media (Newsmax.com)

The United States' years-long delay in approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline has forced the company that wants to build it to realize it shouldn't rely on a single outlet.

Russ Girling, president and CEO of TransCanada, the Canadian company seeking to build the pipeline from the U.S. border with Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, said his firm hasn't given up on seeing the pipeline built.

Appearing Monday on Fox Business Network's "Cavuto," Girling reiterated what he has said for years: The primary reason for the Keystone pipeline was to build a secure source from the world's second-largest supply source to the world's largest refining source. That continues to be the major reason, he told host Neil Cavuto.

"As production continues to grow in North America we want to be able to feed that to markets right here on the continent," Girling said.

The U.S. government has delayed approval of the pipleline over environmental concerns since 2010. Republicans and labor unions have joined in urging President Barack Obama to OK the pipeline to grow jobs and increase American energy independence.

Girling said the environmental concerns have been addressed.

"We now have 59 conditions on the pipeline that will make it the safest pipeline ever built," he said.

Girling has said previously that he believes the pipeline will eventually be built, but told Cavuto that, in the meantime, TransCanada is finding other routes to export its oil as demand has been growing.

Waiting for the United States to approve the project has proved a "risky proposition," Girling said, and has forced TransCanada to seek alternatives. A refinery has been built in east Canada and other export points have been added to get oil to Asian markets.

The United States and Canada have perhaps the best trade relationship in the world, Girling said, but wondered, "Does this change that perspective? Is Canada no longer an important supplier of energy to the United States?"