Kelcy Warren, CEO of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, says he is confident that his company's Dakota Access pipeline will be carrying crude oil by next spring. Even so, he's planning to reach out personally for the first time to American Indian leaders who say the pipeline violates their land and water.

But the case he plans to bring is unchanged from the position that he and other pipeline supporters have been taking for many months: DAPL will be unusually safe, the route does not violate sacred Indian land, and will be a lot less risky to the water supply than the current use of trucks and trains.

"We probably need to do a better job. What we're trying to do right now is the beginning of that, getting the facts out to people so they have a better understanding of the facts," he said Friday. "If you still demonize the energy industry after you know all the facts, I can't change that. That's just your mind-set."

Warren talked to The Dallas Morning News on a day when he's speaking for the first time in weeks to several media outlets. The timing after Election Day was a coincidence, Warren said. Instead, he'd been silent while the Dakota Access pipeline project had been working its way through several court cases. Once those cases ended a couple of weeks ago, he figured it was about time to go public, Warren said.

The 1,172-mile, $3.78 billion pipeline project was 70 percent finished earlier last month when federal authorities ordered a shutdown on a short stretch of the route because of objections raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Indian tribe, whose reservation is nearby. The pipeline had obtained all needed permits and approvals from federal and state authorities. The route stretches from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota down to Illinois.

Federal authorities have not said when they would issue a ruling on whether the remaining construction, under the Missouri River, would be approved or rejected. If there's an approval, that construction will take from 90 to 120 days, Warren said.

In the meantime, Warren is certain that his version of the facts should carry the day against protesters — including musicians who Warren has worked with for years and a Norwegian bank that is helping finance the pipeline but raised an objection over the weekend to the way ETP has dealt with "indigenous people's rights."

Warren totally does not buy those arguments. He said the protesters are ignoring reality. The decision of Norway's DNB bank was a mistake, he said. And other banks are also getting attacked via social media in an effort to cut financing to the energy industry.

"That's all that nonsense is," he said. "It's just terrorism."

The pipeline route stretches from North Dakota to Illinois. (Source: Energy Transfer Partners)

Other banks involved in financing the pipeline have told ETP that they're being threatened, Warren said. But none of them are talking about pulling back financing.

"Nobody is getting weak-kneed," he said. "They are all staying with us."

Last week, protesters attended the meeting in Austin of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, where Warren is a commissioner. One of the speakers was Pete Hefflin of the Society of Native Nations. Warren agreed there to have a meeting with Hefflin. He said Friday that the meeting hasn't happened yet but is being set up.

Warren said that the tribal objection based on 150 years of mistreatment of Indians by government agencies is not an issue he can deal with.

Marjoe Sweatt chanted with other activists Nov. 1 as they picketed outside the corporate offices of Energy Transfer Partners, the Dallas company building the controversial Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News) (Staff Photographer)

"If Native Americans have issues with treaties that were established 150 years ago, I don't really see how it's really appropriate for me to weigh in on that. Maybe there does need to be some overhauls on some of that. But that doesn't impact this project," Warren said.

He's insistent that whatever risk is associated with the project would be less than the tribe experiences now.

"Could our pipeline have a leak? Is it possible. It is more likely here will be a derailment of a rail line that also crosses the Missouri river, by the way, right where their water intake is, where the railroad trestle is?" he said. "That is much more likely than anything happening with the pipeline."

The pipeline would also be good for the North Dakota oil business compared with the current use of trains and trucks out of the Bakken, he said. Cheaper by about $7 per barrel.

Some celebrities who oppose the pipeline include musicians Warren has worked with for years. Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne has performed at benefit concerts held by Warren at his Cherokee Creek Music Festival. And in 2014, Warren's Music Road Records produced a tribute album to Browne that included performances by the Indigo Girls and Bonnie Raitt. All have attacked Warren and the pipeline in recent weeks.

"I do not support the Dakota Access Pipeline," Browne wrote. "I will be donating all of the money I have received from this album to date, and any money received in the future, to the tribes who are opposing the pipeline."

"That is incredibly disappointing," Warren said. "That is a classic example of a group of people that rush to judgement before they knew the facts. And it's sad. But that is what it is."

Warren expects the approval to finish the Dakota Access pipeline to happen soon — or by the Trump administration. He's also optimistic that the Trump's leadership will be better for the energy sector than the Obama administration has been.

One issue that could be a particular problem for ETP is the relationship between Trump and leaders in Mexico. ETP is just finishing two pipelines that are supposed to carry natural gas from Texas over the border, to replace the dirtier fuels used in Mexican electric power plants.

Warren says his company's leaders have met regularly with business leaders on the other side of the border.

"They have no concern that their importation of natural gas from Texas will in any way be impaired by politics," he said.

On Thursday, Warren was on an analyst call discussing the company's third quarter financial report and took a couple of questions about the potential impact of Trump. He saw some upside and downside.

Trump, for instance, had said he wanted to resurrect the coal industry.

"The natural gas industry has benefited from a policy of putting them out of work. So, there's some things that aren't great, I guess, for the natural gas side of things, possibly," he said.

On the other hand, Trump made a case for paying for infrastructure repair in his victory speech. And that could be good for lots of businesses, Warren said.

"Having a government that actually backs up what they say that we're going to support infrastructure, we're going to support job creation, we're going to support growth in America, and then actually does it? My God, this is going to be refreshing," he said Thursday.

Trump aside, what's going to happen to the American energy industry over the next year or two? What will happen with the continuing slump in crude oil and natural gas prices? On Friday, Warren offered guesses about what could happen because of more efficient drilling and other economic factors. But he admitted his guesses had limits.

"The short answer is, I don't know," Warren said.