More than 100 environmental activists rallied at the office of Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Tuesday protesting a number of carbon-intensive projects throughout the state. The activists called on Schweitzer to halt construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline and end Exxon Mobil megaload shipments bound for the Alberta Tar Sands. Five people were arrested and charged with trespassing and obstruction after they locked their arms in a mock pipeline made of PVC pipe and took up position in a hallway.

Peter Dolan: “I am from Montana. I grew up 60 miles away in Great Falls. And I cherish Montana. I cherish the beauty here. And I know that a lot of people from all of the country think of this as being like God’s country. And it really is like a unique place. And Governor Schweitzer is catering to Big Oil, allowing for bigger and bigger pipelines that are jeopardizing that.” (video courtesy of Murphy Woodhouse)

Gov. Schweitzer eventually agreed to speak to the protesters but refused their calls to renounce support for the Keystone pipeline. The action follows the rupturing of an Exxon Mobil pipeline near Montana’s Yellowstone River earlier this month, leaking as much as 42,000 gallons of crude oil.