Okay, here is the deal. If you just give me the rights to strip mine coal in your "fish and wildlife" preserve, I give you lots more already stripped land.

And by the way, don't worry about the mercury, arsenic, boron and sludge we dumped there. It's perfectly safe.

Thus went the meeting with area sportsmen as Indiana state officials tried to sell the public on a plan offered by Black Beauty Coal Company, more widely known as Peabody Energy, to strip mine around 1,000 acres of hardwood forest in the Glendale Fish and Wildlife Area near Montgomery.

In 2004, Black Beauty went to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) asking for an exchange of land so they could strip a forested part of the preserve. They were told to bring the idea back because DNR did not want to create a highly charged political issue during an election year.

The man who told them that was John Davis, a DNR deputy, who also happened to be then-Lt. Governor Kathy Davis' husband.

Davis told the story before a packed meeting room in Montgomery, the center of Indiana coal country these days. State officials described the nefarious deal to a skeptical crowd.

Kyle Hupfer, DNR director withstood more than an hour of questions about the deal, using members of his staff to answer what he could not. It was part of what he insists will be an open process as it is decided whether to make the swap.

Hupfer asserted no decision has been made, and it was early in the process.

Large obstacles remain, foremost among them the room full of disgust in Montgomery at the idea.

But the pot is sweet. Hupfer claimed a trade could create as much as 15,000 to 20,000 acres of new hunting and fishing habitat in the state.

A few minutes later he boasted 20,000 to 30,000 acres. But that was after he insisted that he knew nothing because the initial geological study was not complete.

Hupfer professed his objectivity, but it was clear that Black Beauty had the upper hand. He averred that once a state-issued "request for proposal" was complete, anyone could bid for the coal.

But then he said there would be no coal processing "on site," which essentially means Black Beauty would be the only bidder, since it had processing facilities near by.

Most of more than 200 people in the room applauded when DNR officials were asked why they used eminent domain to secure important sections of the preserve and now proposed to give it to a private party to rip apart.

But sentiments were not universal. About 10 percent of the crowd were beneficiaries of Black Beauty's largess, and they spoke well of the company, mainly of their own lifestyles derived from wages working in the mines. They know their jobs end when the coal is gone and that this deal will seal a more secure future.

This is a scenario played out hundreds of times where coal is king.

But coal mining does not enlist the support of everyone in coal country, although DNR would like everyone to believe that.

In fact, Hupfer tactfully asked the crowd this long question.

"I hate to ask this question, and I won't, I guess because it is premature, but I will go ahead," he said. "Just so we have it for the record so you guys can get it in. How many folks think that under no circumstances, and regardless of the dollars, regardless of the land, no matter what we bring to you, your answer would be, 'Hell No!'"

About 90 percent raised their hands.

When he asked the simpler, "How many think it is worth taking the next step?" the section from Black Beauty let their support be heard.

Clearly disturbed at the response of the assembly, Hupfer chimed in, "I truly believe that the folks, and they can speak for themselves, but the folks who believe that this shouldn't take place aren't saying it because it is Black Beauty and aren't saying it because of any coal company and aren't opposed to coal mining. That is something that I recognize, at least, that the folks that are concerned for this area mining aren't opposed to coal mining in general."

Asked later where he got his data to make that determination, he replied, "I don't think this tonight, or hopefully anytime, turns into a pro-coal, anti-coal. How many hunters in this room, how many fishermen, are not opposed to coal mining in general though you would not want it on this property? ... So there, there are 30 or 40."

It is easy to understand DNR's reluctance to make it a coal issue. Everyone knows that once coal comes to a neighborhood, life will forever change. Blasting, the endless dust clouds and noise from the heavy machinery becomes an omnipresent assault on the serenity of the countryside. Objections to the pig farmer down the road suddenly become moot.

John Blair can be reached at Ecoserve1@aol.com.