Washington ( CNN ) -- More than 100 people protesting mountain-top removal coal mining were arrested Monday outside the White House for failing to obey an order to disperse , the U.S. Park Service said . All 114 people arrested at the protest against mountain-top mining were later released pending a court date , according to the park service . The protesters , most from the Appalachian coal-mining states , had a permit to gather in front of the White House , but some failed to follow rules set out in the permit , according to a park service spokesman . The protest capped a three-day event called `` Appalachia Rising '' in the nation 's capital . Residents of states in the coal mining region -- West Virginia , Virginia , Kentucky and Tennessee -- first came together for a weekend conference called `` Voices from the Mountains . '' On Monday , organizers said , hundreds of people gathered at Freedom Plaza for a rally and march to the White House , where 114 people staged a sit-in . They were arrested when they refused to move . `` The science is clear , mountaintop removal destroys historic mountain ranges , poisons water supplies and pollutes the air with coal and rock dust , '' said climate scientist James Hansen , who was arrested at the White House . `` Mountaintop removal , providing only a small fraction of our energy , can and should be abolished . The time for half measures and caving in to polluting industries must end . '' `` I have talked , begged , debated , written letters to officials , published op-ed pieces in newspapers and lobbied on the state and federal level to end mountaintop removal , '' said Mickey McCoy , former mayor of Inez , Kentucky , who was also arrested . `` Being arrested ? That 's such a small price to pay for being heard . My home and people are paying the real price for mountaintop removal . They are dying . '' Mountain-top mining refers to a form of coal mining most common in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States in which the peak or top of a mountain is removed . The resulting degradation of the environment affects water sources such as streams , as well as animal and plant life in the area .
NEW : Civil disobedience act caps weekend conference . The U.S. Park Service says more than 100 people were arrested . All those detained were later released pending a court date . The protest was against mountain-top mining .