State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, and Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners chair Yousef Rabhi joined a crowd of about 75 people in a vigil held outside the Federal Building in downtown Ann Arbor Monday evening.

Activists and officials spoke to the group, which had gathered to protest the potential construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would carry oil from Canada through the Midwest. The speeches focused on the potential environmental damage that could come from the pipeline and one activist suggested that future events could include civil disobedience.

“Last summer I joined up with CREDO Action, who has a pledge of resistance that I signed on to,” Susan Brewington, who hosted the event with Ann Arbor No KXL — a shorthand name for the pipeline, said.

“Our commitment is that we will risk being arrested, we may do civil disobedience to get this stopped. We don’t want to be arrested, we’re not going to try to be arrested, but we are willing to.”

The event Monday was held in response to the release of a State Department environmental study of the 1,700-mile Keystone pipeline that has been interpreted by many as clearing the way for the Obama administration to approve the project.

Event organizer Susan Brewington, right, helps Jimmie Wright, who came from Grass Lake to participate in the vigil Monday evening, pick a sign to hold in front of the Federal Building in downtown Ann Arbor.

The proposed pipeline would be built from Saskatchewan Canada across Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, and would link up to an existing pipeline to bring oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmentalists claim that the pipeline would allow for increased oil production from tar sands in Canada that would speed up global climate change. President Barack Obama said in a speech at Georgetown University that “our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward.”

Attendees at the rally said they hope that Obama recognizes the impact the pipeline and the oil it would carry could have on the earth’s health.

“As James Hanson says, if this thing goes through, it’s the final nail in the coffin in terms of the environment,” Jimmie Wright, a vigil participant from Grass Lake, said.

“The goal is to stop the extraction of oil from the tar sands, stopping the pipeline is the first step to doing that.”

A number of local organizations including the Rainforest Action Network and the Ann Arbor Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice were present at the vigil. Irwin told the crowd that developing alternative sources of energy is important to making projects like Keystone less viable.

“If we want to power prosperity in this nation going forward and for many generations we have to start thinking smarter, thinking cleaner, we need to develop energy sources that we control and that are clean and homegrown,” Irwin told the crowd.

“That’s why I’m here to urge the president to reject the Keystone pipeline. And we’re certainly working hard in Lansing to try to promote the benefits of clean energy investments: wind and solar and geothermal. We need to start to diversify our energy mix to make us stronger and more healthy in the future.”

Rabhi, who announced recently that he would not run for mayor of Ann Arbor in 2014, said threats to the local environment have been at the top of his mind long before he won his first election.

“The reason I got involved in politics when I was 3 years old was I wanted to help save Malletts Creek,” he said.

“Water is important in our lives and especially here in Michigan… We have to fight for our water, fight for our right to drink and breathe and we are here today to do that. This issue is not just a national issue, not just a global issue, it is also a local issue.”

A number of University of Michigan students attended the rally, and Nicholas Jansen spoke about an effort underway to encourage the university to divest funds from fossil fuel industry financial assets. He asked attendees affiliated with the university to sign an online petition when they got home.

"We already went to the administration and they said no to all our requests so far," Jansen said.



"To build the movement we've got to show there's a voice on campus that we want this because we need this."

Brewington said after the event that there will be more planning meetings held in Romulus and Ann Arbor with another large event likely in 90 days — when Obama is expected to decide whether to approve the pipeline.

Ben Freed is a general assignments reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at benfreed@mlive.com and follow him on twitter at @BFreedinA2. He also answers the phone at 734-623-2528.