SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) -- Mining officials must focus on public relations to counterbalance environmentalists who seek to give the industry a bad name, a National Mining Association official said.

Daniel Gerkin, the association’s vice president for public and constituent relations, addressed the group’s annual convention in Sheridan.

"Every child in America grows up knowing that if they are real bad, Santa Claus is going to put coal in their Christmas stocking," Gerkin said Thursday. "In a very significant way, people start out very young, very early age, sort of knowing that something about coal can’t be very good." More disturbing, he said, is about 65 percent of Americans do not know what coal is or how it affects their lives, even though coal-fired power plants provide about 56 percent of the nation’s electricity.

"Therein lies the real public relations challenge," he said. "People are disconnected from coal use and mineral use in this country, and that’s the foundation of some of our most difficult problems."

Gerkin spoke not too far west of the world's largest coal mine, located in neighboring Campbell County.

The National Mining Association has launched an advertising and education campaign with the slogan, "Every thing begins with mining." Although some people readily support or condemn mining in polls, he said, 60 to 70 percent have no strong feelings on the issue and can be reached by promotional campaigns.

"If public opinion is against your industry, and politicians are doing the polling, you’re going to come out on the short end of the stick," he said. Environmentalists are promoting their messages in schools and mining officials need to do the same, he said.

To that end, the National Mining Association is promoting an "Adopt a School" program. Gerkin estimated the industry could reach 115,000 students if each of about 4,500 mines nationally adopted one school. The industry needs to play up the progress mining companies have made in land reclamation and the technological advances that have made mining and mining-related industries cleaner, he said.

"Whether it's justified or not, people fear our industry because we are disturbing the environment," he said.

While poor countries have very little in the way of environmental safeguards, the nation’s strong economy -- fueled by cheap energy -- actually allows for strong environmental regulations, he said. He said the industry also has future challenges with environmentalists who want to move toward renewable energy and with measures like the Kyoto protocol, an international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.