A proposal to strip mine environmentally sensitive woodland in South Park met angry opposition from about 300 people at an informal hearing yesterday, leading Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato to declare that the mining proposal had been "laid to rest."

"It's dead on arrival. There will be no deal to do this. That area will stay as it is," he said after the meeting at South Park High School. When he asked for a show of hands, no more than 20 people indicated support for the mining.

Green Vue Systems LLC owns the coal under South Park, but not the surface rights for strip mining. The company, which was formed last year and has no prior mining experience, offered to build 12 ball fields after it finished removing coal from 100 acres in the Sleepy Hollow area of the county park.

The area is popular with hikers, and the county parks department has plans to connect it with the Montour Trail.

The mood in the auditorium was clear before the meeting began. Four young children carried signs across the stage proclaiming, "Save our trees!" and "Trees not trucks." Virtually the entire assemblage burst into applause and cheers.

Jon Hiser, a mining engineer hired by Green Vue, spoke briefly, saying the company wanted to "put something back into the community."

"Trees will get cut down, but trees are a renewable resource," he said, sparking boos.

Later, Mr. Hiser said the company had not done a study to determine how much coal was under Sleepy Hollow. He said the coal rights had been inherited by Green Vue's founder, Nello Fiore, who intended to hire "a responsible miner" to do the extraction.

Former South Park Township school board member Mary Franko led the opposition, speaking from the podium and distributing a treatise on the risks of strip mining. She called the proposal "ridiculous and obscene," saying strip mining should never be done in a residential area, in part because "fly rock" can kill people up to a mile away.

She warned that township property values would plummet and blasting could cause subsidence in the many underground mines in the area.

Richard Weaver, a South Park resident who said he grew up in coal-mine country, doubted Green Vue would keep its promise of ball fields.

"They can say, 'We're going to reclaim the land,' then leave a couple of rusting pieces of equipment so they can say, 'We're not done yet.' It never gets done," he said.

One speaker tried to support the Green Vue proposal but was booed into silence when she suggested that the community could "graciously accept a donation."

Mr. Onorato said repeatedly that no formal application had been made by Green Vue, but that he wanted to vet the idea with the public.

Many local politicians attended the session, including Democratic congressional candidate Steve O'Donnell; County Council members Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park, and Joan Cleary, D-Brentwood; and state Rep. David K. Levdansky, D-Forward.

Mr. Levdansky, the ranking majority member of the state House Energy and Environmental Resources Committee, said he doubted Green Vue could get the environmental permits to mine Sleepy Hollow.

"You are not allowed to encroach on a stream. I don't see how strip mining can be done in that area," he said.