DENVER -- Old King Coal will be a merrier old soul with Sen. Barack Obama than previous Democratic candidates for president, the former director of the U.S. Office of Surface Mining said Monday.

"I was pleasantly surprised," said Kathy Karpan, head of the OSM during the Clinton administration, former Wyoming secretary of state, and current delegate to the Democratic National Convention here this week.

Karpan, other Wyoming delegates and their families gathered Monday morning for their daily breakfast, briefings about logistics, and to hear from Obama campaign and Democratic Party policy analysts.

Former state Sen. Kelly Mader, R-Gillette, an executive with Peabody Energy -- one of the sponsors of the breakfast -- spoke about his good relationship with Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the pre-eminent place of Wyoming coal in the nation.

Obama energy adviser Julie Anderson from Washington told the delegates the presidential candidate has several short-term solutions for high energy prices, including rebates of $500 per individual and $1,000 per family, and taking some light crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to increase supply and lower prices.

Anderson worked in the Clinton administration, which did the same thing in 2000 with some success, she said.

Long-term goals include developing the nation's energy security while addressing climate change, Anderson said.

Proposals include improved energy efficiency, such as raising vehicle fuel economy standards by 4 percent a year, technological innovations such as battery-powered cars, and considering a spectrum of energy sources: mandating development of renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and use of nonrenewables including nuclear, oil and gas, and coal.

"It's critical to us to use coal," Anderson said.

Marcia Kunstel, delegate from Teton County, told Anderson that Obama's pro-environmental stance evidenced in programs for habitat restoration and conservation didn't appear to translate to fossil fuels.

"You're pro-environment when talking about the environment, but not with energy extraction," Kunstel said.

Susan Daggett, an environmental consultant in Denver and colleague of Anderson, responded that Obama wants both.

"Sen. Obama embraces drilling for natural gas, but respecting wildlife habitat and (the needs of) sportsmen," Daggett said.

Anderson later said Obama's energy policies are trying to strike a balance.

"It's realistic, and we're going toned a wide variety of resources to meet energy needs and address climate change," she said. "It helps us get off foreign resources."

Obama does favor a windfall profits tax for oil companies, which would fund the rebate program, Anderson said.

He also would like to phase out tax credit subsidies for oil companies, she said.

Karpan, who hails from Rock Springs and works as an attorney in Cheyenne, came from a coal mining family and said she knows the mineral's importance to Wyoming's economy and any national energy policy.

She's also known the quadrennial frustrations of trying to persuade Democratic Party policy makers about the role of coal.

"The Democrats either didn't talk about coal or decried coal," Karpan said.

Eight years ago, she didn't even get that chance.

She recalled a conversation with Al Gore, who told Karpan, "'We're not going to use coal; I'm not coming out for coal.'"

This year is different, said Karpan, who campaigned for Obama rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and praised Anderson's and Daggett's comments.

Referring to position papers -- one about energy and one about sportsmen including a pro-Second Amendment stance -- given to the delegates, Karpan expressed the amazement of, "Gosh, where am I?"

During past conventions, policy wonks would talk to the delegates and shake their fingers at them, with no questions asked, she said.

Not so this year, as the Obama campaign has done its homework about Wyoming and is not writing it off as a lost cause for Democrats, Karpan said.

"Barack Obama is practical," she said. "He is not tone deaf."

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0616, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.