Keystone would have led to 'some of the dirtiest oil on the planet': White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Building the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada would have encouraged so-called dirty oil with harmful environmental impacts, the White House said on Friday, following the Obama administration's rejection of TransCanada Corp's project.

"To build a pipeline project that would incentivize the extraction of some of the dirtiest oil on the planet" would undermine the administration's climate change plan, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily briefing, adding that State Department reviewers of the proposal were mindful of upcoming climate change talks in Paris.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Sandra Maler)