Energy East pipeline project gets support from Maine governor

Gov. Paul LePage is pictured speaking to reporters in this June 26, 2013 file photo. (AP / Robert F. Bukaty, File)

LA MALBAIE, Que. -- The proposed Energy East pipeline is getting some support from south of the border.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage says it's a great project that could make more oil available to his country's eastern seaboard state.

TransCanada (TSX:TRP) Corp.'s Energy East pipeline project, which still has to clear regulatory reviews, would deliver up to 1.1 million barrels per day from Alberta to Quebec and then to Saint John, N.B., by 2018.

LePage says he would like to see oil transported by pipeline rather than rail cars, calling the train disaster in Lac Megantic, Que., a "perfect storm" involving aging equipment and human error.

The tracks used to transport western oil to New Brunswick pass through Maine.

LePage is attending the meeting of New England governors and eastern Canadian premiers in La Malbaie, Que.

New Brunswick Premier David Alward is scheduled to leave the meeting early today to address a TransCanada board of directors meeting in Fredericton.