Five protesters locked themselves to a coal barge Thursday morning in Kanawha County. The members of Mountain Justice and RAMPS were protesting mountaintop removal mining.

The barge was docked at Chelyan in eastern Kanawha County. The group of protesters had a large banner than read "Coal leaves, cancer stays."

Another group of activists with the same organizations blocked a coal haul road near Kayford Mountain on Cabin Creek Thursday morning. The protesters say they stopped trucks leaving the Republic Energy mine.

"These actions against coal transport were taken because the viability and health of mountain communities are being destroyed by mountaintop removal—the coal and the profits are shipped away, leaving disease and destruction in their wake," Rebecca Loeb, one of the people on the barge said.

Activists on a barge on the Kanawha River near Chelyan, W.Va., May 24, picture courtesy of Mountain Justice and RAMPS