Little Rock - Concerned Arkansans gather on the capitol steps Saturday to protest new coal use in the natural state.

There are currently two proposed coal-fired power plants in the works.

One would be located in the southwestern Arkansas, the other in the eastern part of the state.

The group is definitely passionate about it's quest for no new coal use in this state and Saturday they tried to get their message out to other Arkansans.

Saturday's protesters were not hard to miss as they chanted "no new coal" from the state capitol steps on Saturday.

(Glen Hooks, Sierra Club) "All these folks are asking Governor Beebe to put a moratorium on coal-fired power plants and start investing in renewable energy."

At the center of the debate are two proposed coal-fired power plants, one in Hempstead County, the other in Osceola.

(Hooks) "They're very polluting, they're very destructive and they're going to see Arkansas back 40 or 50 years when it comes to clean energy."

Jennifer Nusbaum drove over two hours from her home in Jasper to the rally in Little Rock, so she could voice her opposition to the new coal plants.

(Jennifer Nusbaum, Protester) "With all the knowledge that we have now, we only have one answer and that is to be more educated and enforce stiffer laws and penalties on coal producing plants."

Advocates say the plants will create hundreds of jobs and provide customers with cost effective and reliable electric service, but protesters still say the new coal plants would do more harm than good.

(Hooks) "We're the natural state, we think we can do better than that."

The group also commended Governor Beebe for his work to bring three wind energy companies to  Arkansas, saying they want to see more of that type of energy development.