FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) _ Kentucky's coal industry is getting about $400,000 a year in state tax dollars for educational materials that promote mining, including funding for public campaigns promoting the controversial practice of mountaintop removal.

The money is funneled through nonprofit groups run by the industry, The Lexington Herald-Leader reported in Thursday's editions. It is used mostly for statewide classroom programs and includes teaching materials and games.

Nonprofit groups that receive the funding include the Kentucky Foundation, which is run out of the Lexington office of the Kentucky Coal Association, according to tax and corporate records. The funding comes from the state's portion of unmined mineral taxes — taxes property owners pay on coal, oil and natural gas left underground.

"This is an educational tool for all of Kentucky's school children, who should know about coal," said Dick Brown, spokesman for Gov. Steve Beshear. "It was never meant to be a P.R. tool for the industry, and (we) are working diligently to make sure that is not the case."

Environmentalists said the coal industry should be paying for its own public relations campaigns.

"The state should not be in the business of promoting propaganda for the coal industry," said Dave Cooper, chairman of the Bluegrass Group of the Sierra Club. "I drive around the country with a slide show to educate people about the damage caused by mountaintop removal mining. Funny, but I receive no government funding for my work at all."

A Web site with teaching materials and games described mountaintop removal mining as "simply the right thing to do — both for the environment and for the local economy — a true win-win."

Mountaintop removal consists of blasting off the top of a mountain to reach a coal seam.

The newspaper said the content on the site, www.coaleducation.org, was altered to sound more neutral after the newspaper asked about it.

"The environmentalists throw out a lot of negative stuff, like kids who are suffering from asthma because they breathe particulate matter from living near a coal-fired power plant, or deaths caused on the roads by big coal trucks," Kentucky Coal Association president Bill Caylor said. "We're trying to counteract that."

Gov. Steve Beshear and a legislative committee have approved adding $17,500 to this year's $100,000 contract for the Kentucky Foundation so it can conduct a study showing the economic benefits of coal mining to the state.

Environmentalists ask why tax money meant for "public education of coal-related issues" is used exclusively in ways that please the coal industry.

"It's appropriate to educate citizens on their sources of energy," said Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council. "But I don't think we should be spending the public's money on industry promotional campaigns that are thinly disguised as educational programs."

Faced with a tight state budget, then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher diverted money from the coal education program to help balance the books during his four years. Beshear has restored the program to its full strength.