EPCAMR’s 15th Anniversary event, held on August 4th at the Genetti Inn & Suites in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was deemed a success by staff and supporters in attendance. This event was held to celebrate 15 years of EPCAMR being a strong and enduring small environmental non-profit. Over 80 individuals, representing Pennsylvania conservation districts, the coal industry, environmental consulting companies, watershed groups, the PA DEP, and Senator John Yudichak’s office, came together for a wonderful evening to celebrate our success and hear what the future holds for EPCAMR.
The evening began with a cocktail hour and Fellowship Reception, along with our Anthrascapes AMD Art Silent Auction. Joey Capparel of Genetti’s Catering, created a special cake that resembled an abandoned mine tunnel discharging from a mountainside, with AMD flowing down into a circulating fountain.
Bidding for the silent auction pieces opened at the beginning of the event and winners were announced near the end of the program. Over 50 pieces of art, created with recovered iron oxide from EPCAMR, were on display. One of the artists, Heather Radel, worked with her student class on watercolors with iron oxide. The student’s pieces were set up as a separate exhibit.
Our featured Emcee, David Hess, former PA DEP Secretary, could not be in attendance due to a family issue, so Michael Korb, PA DEP BAMR Environmental Program Manager, stepped up to serve as the Emcee. Mike started off the evening by recalling a memory from 20 years ago, when Robert Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director, was an intern with PA DEP BAMR and the Moshannon District Mining office. He then went on to say, “if Robert was trained by the BAMR guys, he must be okay and doing something right with EPCAMR.” Mike recalled the first conference on Abandoned Mine Reclamation, held at Wilkes University in Summer 1996, when Robert was the Assistant Director for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Northeast office. Mike jokingly said, “There were over 200 people at that first conference, and 13 years later, I’d have to say it was the best attended conference to date. Then you brought on Michael Hewitt as an OSM intern for a few years, until coming on full-time, and all of the conferences since then have had lower numbers!”
What Mike failed to mention is that the PA AMR Conference is the longest running state-wide conference on the largest non-point pollution source problem in Pennsylvania, and our broad coalitions are state-wide and have had the greatest impact on bringing additional state and federal funding to Pennsylvania to address these issues. EPCAMR is sure that Mike knows this and, jesting aside, BAMR has been a great partner over the years.
Bernie McGurl, Lackawanna River Corridor Association Executive Director, gave a Toast of Appreciation and thanked our partners, volunteer board members, and staff for all of the hard work and dedication to EPCAMR and being committed to cleaning up Pennsylvania’s legacy of past mining practices. Going forward into the dinner program, EPCAMR Executive Director, Robert Hughes, gave a speech talking about the theme of the anniversary dinner, “PARTNERSHIPS, PLACES, & PRIDE.” You can read his speech on Facebook.
Robert went on to mention that the 15-year digital photo collection being displayed at the event was of the special places EPCAMR has visited and projects we’ve done across Pennsylvania in an effort to clean up AMD with partners. Following the photo display, Robert unveiled three EPCAMR Publicity Collages, created by EPCAMR Intern, Justyna Sacharzewska, to piece together newspaper headlines of EPCAMR collected over the years. The EPCAMR staff thought this would be a good way portray what EPCAMR does and will continue to do in the region; cleaning up streams impacted by past mining and educating youth and community groups about AMD. The collages now hang in the EPCAMR office.
Robert proceeded to recognize sponsors, partnering organizations, and participating artists from the silent auction. Special plaques were awarded to the Executive Committee of the EPCAMR Board of Trustees. Certificates of appreciation were then awarded to all other board members to recognize them for years of dedication and service to the organization. Special Recognition was mentioned for the PA DEP Section 319 Clean Water Program in the Bureau of Watershed Management that has supported EPCAMR since inception. Ron Phelps, formerly with the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation & Development Council, was also recognized for his initial work in getting EPCAMR partners together.
Finally, EPCAMR’s founding and current board member, Bruno Najaka, took the audience back in time to the peak of Anthracite and Bituminous coal mining in Pennsylvania, particularly in Sullivan County, where he hails from. He talked of childhood memories in the coal fields and encouraged the audience to continue to support the EPCAMR staff in their efforts to reclaim abandoned mine lands and clean up streams and rivers polluted by AMD. By the end of the night, nearly $800 was raised from the silent auction.
EPCAMR Staff & Board Members
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