UPDATED 17:22 PM EST, November 19, 2012
Fresh off a 3,000-person protest at the White House on Sunday, McKibben noted Obama has already opened up the coal-rich Powder River Basin to mining development and the Arctic Ocean to drilling by Shell.
"In this case, for once, he gets to make the call himself," McKibben said of the 1,179-mile pipeline proposal. He noted that unlike last January, when he denied a cross-border permit to TransCanada, Obama is not facing a congressional deadline.
