CHARLOTTE – Environmental activists are blocking a train shipment of coal to a Duke Energy plant outside of Charlotte. The action comes the same day the utility company is holding its annual shareholder’s meeting in North Carolina’s largest city.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Molly Dorozensk said Thursday that four activists handcuffed themselves to tracks, while others marked freight cars with stickers of Apple’s logo. Apple is building a datacenter in North Carolina

Environmentalists say Duke is using that site and other massive datacenters in the state to justify investment in coal-fired plants.

Meanwhile, about 50 people demonstrated outside Duke’s headquarters before the shareholder’s meeting. They said they showed up despite new city restrictions to control demonstrations.

The measures were adopted in advance of this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.