5 protesters shut down land board meeting before being led away in handcuffs

Protesters briefly shut down land board meeting

HELENA, Mont. — Five protesters briefly shut down a meeting of the Montana Land Board Thursday when they locked arms and sat on the floor as the panel prepared to vote on the sale of a half-billion ton reserve of state-owned coal.

The protesters chanted, “Hands off Otter Creek, you’re not listening.” They halted the meeting for approximately 45 minutes until police led them away one-by-one in handcuffs. Police said they were taken to jail on an initial charge of disorderly conduct and were considering an additional trespassing charge.

The five men and women said they are with the advocacy group Northern Rockies Rising Tide. They staged the protest just after Secretary of State Linda McCulloch moved to approve the coal sale Thursday morning. Debate on the sale resumed after the protesters were taken away.

Arch Coal has offered an $86 million upfront payment plus royalties for the rights to mine the state’s Otter Creek coal tracts in eastern Montana.

Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, Northern Rockies Rising Tide issued a press release saying activists planned to make a “bold statement” during the land board meeting. They argue that moving forward on Otter Creek would open the door to a major coal industry expansion and lead to poisoned rivers and the disruption of rural communities.

The group, based in Missoula, is described on its Web site as a chapter of a “decentralized, grass roots movement” devoted to stopping the extraction of fossil fuels.

AP writer Matthew Brown contributed to this report from Billings.