Across the United States on Monday protesters took to the streets for hundreds of rallies urging President Obama to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The actions in at least 44 states followed a State Department report claiming the pipeline’s northern leg would have a minimal impact on climate change. Environmentalists disagree, saying plans to pipe 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta’s tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast would accelerate global warming and threaten communities along the pipeline’s route. Here in New York City, scores of people rallied in Union Square, including environmentalist Bill McKibben of 350.org.

Bill McKibben: “This issue has already brought more Americans into the streets than any environmental issue in decades, and now, finally, we’re at the point of decision. It’s out of the hands of the bought-off bureaucrats who have been delaying it in the State Department for years and doing the bidding of the fossil fuel industry. Now we’re going to find out whether John Kerry and Barack Obama are similarly captives of the oil industry or whether they’re willing to really stand up when it counts for the commitments they’ve made about climate change.”