MONTREAL - A group of environmentalists protesting a planned oil pipeline project that would crisscross Quebec's bucolic countryside has set up camp to voice its opposition.

On Sunday, about 100 protesters attended a rally in the province's Eastern Townships to decry a project by Calgary-based oil giant Enbridge that would carry 200,000 barrels of Canadian crude per day from Alberta's oil patch to Portland, Maine.

The Trailbreaker project would use existing 60-year-old infrastructure owned by Portland-Montreal Pipelines -- which now runs oil from the U.S. to Montreal-area refineries -- but with the flow of crude reversed.

Sunday's march was part of the so-called 'Climate Action Camp' -- two weeks of activities meant to underline local opposition to the project and highlight clean energy alternatives to Alberta's oil patch.

Organizers from grassroots activist group Climate Justice Montreal have set their sights not just on the Quebec segment of the pipeline but the tar sands as a whole, said spokesman Cameron Fenton.

"I grew up in Alberta before I moved out here to Montreal and I've seen what (the tar sands have) done, I've seen the social impact, the environmental devastation," he said.

"It's the most expensive, most environmentally destructive project that perpetuates a fossil fuel driven economy that has for years been known to be unsustainable."

The climate action camp -- fuelled by solar power, wind turbines and other forms of renewable energy -- is near Dunham, Que., a town 85 kilometres southeast of Montreal surrounded by the apple orchards, vineyards and rolling foothills of the province's agricultural and tourism belt.

Organizers hope the 15 days of workshops, films, civil disobedience training and bird watching will draw about 1,000 visitors to the temporary tent city, built with the blessing of municipal politicians who oppose the pipeline project.

"This is creating no jobs and all we're doing is shipping Alberta oil to Portland," said Dunham mayor Jean-Guy Demers, who has scrapped a previous council's decision to move forward with the parts of the project.

"There is zero economic benefits and it's creating zero jobs. We're not even collecting taxes."

The planned project's pipes cross 14 Quebec municipalities and would include the construction of a pumping station near Dunham.

The fact that Enbridge has put the project on hold indefinitely due to a lack of commercial support hasn't prevented a lively local opposition from taking hold.

The group includes residents, environmental groups and members of the Bloc and the Parti Quebecois. Petitions have been tabled in the national assembly and a Facebook page created.

Detractors of the project fear the aging pipes will burst, causing spills that would damage key agricultural and tourism industries.

Reassurances by petroleum companies involved have been met with skepticism.

"Spills are never supposed to happen, according to them," said Demers.

"But they happen all the time. These old pipes could give in when the flow is reversed and the pressure increases. What will that do to our agricultural lands and our water reservoirs?"

Oil company representatives could not be reached for comment over the weekend.

The Dunham town council wants the project shelved -- or at the very least placed under the microscope of a full environmental assessment.

Demers fears an anticipated boom in demand for Alberta oil will pull the Trailbreaker project off the backburner and into action.

Travis Davies, from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said that may well be the case.

Pipelines are the primary mode of transport for Canadian crude into the large U.S. market and are "filling a void," he said.

"It's a critical energy relationship," he said. "We do see a demand for Canadian crude in the U.S. market."

In fact, the lobby group is forecasting significant growth in the production of Canadian crude over the next 15 years, with the amount of barrels coming from the tar sands more than doubling by 2025.

There are plans for at least 16 new or expanded pipelines in the works that will carry Alberta crude south and Canada remains the largest source of U.S. imported oil.

But for now, the growing international campaign to put a stop to the expansion of Canada's oil sands has been joined by at least one small town ally.

Demers campaigned for a mayoral election on an anti-pipeline platform and since his victory, the town council voted against the project's pumping station.

"I put sand in their gas tank," he said with a chuckle.