Dozens of people turned out Friday to protest a gravel mine expansion on Maury Island, blocking access roads in the latest chapter of an ongoing environmental fight.

The Seattle Times reported that about 50 people gathered at the construction site of a loading dock, delaying work on the site by hours.

The King County Sheriff’s Office said no arrests were made. Workers were able to walk through the barricade.

The mine has been a contentious issue for a decade. In December, outgoing state Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland signed a lease, granted to a subsidiary of Glacier Northwest, that allows it to build a barge-loading pier on state aquatic lands in the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve.

Protesters say the mine expansion will damage critical shoreline habitat and threaten chinook salmon and killer whales in Puget Sound.

The Associated Press