State Police say 14 people were cited Tuesday for trespassing during a protest at a Massey Energy surface mine in Raleigh County.

Sgt. Michael Baylous says citations were issued to a photographer and five people who chained themselves to heavy equipment at Richmond, Virginia-based Massey's surface mine on Coal River Mountain Tuesday morning.

Eight more were cited after they delivered a letter addressed to Marfork Coal and Massey officials, then declined to leave without seeing a company representative this afternoon.

The letter asks Marfork and Massey to stop operating the mine and an adjacent coal sludge impoundment. It says the impoundment poses a hazard to a local senior center and the town of Whitesville.

Spokesman Jeff Gillenwater says Massey has the appropriate permits and the trespassers were rightfully charged.

Mountaintop mining opponents are promoting a wind farm on the mountain instead of the surface mine.

The destructive practice of mountaintop mining relies on removing tons of rock and dirt to expose thin, shallow coal seams.