HAZARD — Most people at the East Kentucky Leadership Conference dinner on Thursday night weren’t prepared for what they heard from University of Kentucky professor and author on Appalachia Ron Eller.

He called for an end to mountaintop removal.

After telling the crowd gathered in the middle of coal country he wanted to be “a little frank with you,” Eller said the people of Appalachia must “change how we understand this place and how we understand our place in it.” The region must look beyond “an extraction-based economy” to the values and culture of its people.

“We must begin, I think, by abolishing surface mining, including the radically destructive practice of mountaintop removal,” Eller said. “Mountaintop removal isn’t necessary to the region or the national economy – it’s just cheaper.”

There were no audible gasps, but several people shifted uncomfortably in their seats and exchanged confused looks with those at their tables.

“I didn’t stand up for him, I’ll tell you that,” said state Rep. Hubie Collins, D-Wittensville, whose district covers parts of Floyd, Johnson, Martin and Pike counties. Collins said neither the Appalachian region nor the nation can do without coal. The region needs it for jobs and development, the nation for power and electricity.

Later, when the musical group, Halfway to Hazard, was honored for its achievements, one of its members said in a video they supported coal, many in the crowd erupted with cheers. Gov. Steve Beshear followed Eller and was greeted with applause when he said, “I happen to think we’ll still be in the coal business over the next 25 years.”

Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo who is from Hazard and champions coal and the use of reclaimed land from mountaintop removal sites said the region must deal with its own problems rather than relying on others from other regions for solutions. He said coal is the only alternative to continued dependence of foreign oil.

But Eller, who grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, said after the speech he was “challenging (the audience) to look beyond coal to an alternative future. If we want to provide a place for our kids and some who are not benefiting, we need to be addressing real problems – we can’t go on as if those issues don’t exist.”

He described the national political climate as hostile to coal and said the region needs a new generation of leaders to think in new ways about the future. He said growth doesn’t always provide development and prosperity for all.

And after his speech, Eller said many of coal’s biggest supporters have options the rest of the region’s residents don’t enjoy.

“Many of those people have options,” Eller said. “They can leave the region. They can go somewhere else. But if we want to make a place for our kids and some who are not benefiting (from coal), we need to be addressing real problems. We can’t continue to go on as if those issues don’t exist.”

Jerry Johnson, former chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party who worked at one time as Special Assistant for New Appalachian Development for former Gov. Paul Patton, described the crowd reaction as “mixed.” He said Eller has a “lot of expertise and knowledge of the region.”

“But coal is going to be part of our future for a long time to come,” he said.

Proving Johnson’s point that the reaction was mixed – though heavily in opposition to Eller’s comments about coal – Dale Emmons, a Democratic political consultant from Richmond, said political leaders are “behind the people” who Emmons believes more and more find mountaintop removal objectionable. And, Emmons said, it took courage for Eller to say what he did – although in Emmons’ opinion Eller is so clearly right.

“Mountaintop removal is immoral,” said Emmons.

The issue has significant political ramifications in the region. Most state lawmakers are firm supporters of coal and resist efforts to abolish or more heavily regulate mountaintop removal. Politicians from other parts of the state are reluctant to criticize the practice because they know it’s an emotional and controversial issue in the region and can affect votes.

Secretary of State Trey Grayson, a resident of northern Kentucky, took a non-committal view of Eller’s comments.

“Whatever Ron Eller says, you have to listen to it and pay attention to it,” Grayson said. Asked if he had a reaction to the substance or merit of Eller’s call for abolishing surface mining and mountaintop removal, he answered simply: “No.”

Eller said both in his speech and in answers to questions afterward that mining will continue in its other forms at last in the short term but it should be “strictly regulated.” But he said ultimately, the country will move away from coal and the “extraction-based economy.”

But that provides a “narrow window of opportunity” for change and progress in Appalachia he said. But political leaders must seek new ways of addressing problems and recognize urban solutions and models don’t always work well in rural areas.

Among other things, Eller suggested instead of trying “to recruit Wal-Mart or the chain stores” they should encourage locally operated small businesses “and restore local communities and the kinds of relationships we’ have because of that.”

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.