EPCAMR will be continuing its 20 year partnership with The Nanticoke Conservation Club on a scheduled Spring Cleanup on abandoned mine lands at an illegal dump site off Access Road to Whitney Point, that runs through Newport Township and the City of Nanticoke, and Luzerne County, PA on Saturday, April 29th, 2017.
EPCAMR will be providing The Nanticoke Conservation Club with $500 to aid in the disposal costs and dumping fees of the trash. Community Aid, a committed partner of EPCAMR’s in the region, has provided $5000 in funds for EPCAMR to support the coordination and management of several cleanups around the coalfields. Several other cleanups are in the planning stages for later this year all the way through the Fall of 2017, including our annual cleanup of Centralia, PA. The City of Nanticoke, the Newport Township Crimewatch, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, NE Office, are all partners in the effort. The area of the cleanup, and along the mining impacted Newport Creek, which runs parallel to the road into the site will be the center point of the cleanup. They will just need to provide us with receipts and a tally of the number of bags and tires collected, number of volunteers and club members in attendance, along with the tonnage report for the two anticipated dumpsters that they will be getting so that we can provide a thorough report to Community Aid in the Fall 2017. EPCAMR has already reached out to our RECLAIM Crew volunteer database as well to see if they are interested in making it to this event and will be present to take some photos of the good work that they all will be doing in the Southern Wyoming Valley and along Newport Creek.
Gary Gronkowski, President, of the The Nanticoke Conservation Club estimates that 40 volunteers will commit at least 4 hours of their time on that Saturday morning to rid the community of the illegal dumping sites, valued at $3780.80, not including the use of the City’s Public Works equipment to transport trash to the dumpsters. “The entire Nanticoke Conservation Club thanks you for the support offered and to your ongoing dedication to our environment”, stated Gary Gronkowski, in his letter of request to EPCAMR for support. Chartered on April 4, 1951, The Nanticoke Conservation Club is an active organization comprised of hunters, fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts. Their goal is to protect, preserve, and manage their area’s wildlife and natural resources.
“Gary Gronkowski and I have been cleaning up trash for over 20 years together across the entire Southern Wyoming Valley. Our daughter’s went to elementary and high school together and played on many sports teams together, where we ended up seeing each other at a lot of events and began sharing our stories of our concern for our local environment, rivers, and streams. Long ago, we decided that we would make a commitment to conducting cleanups anywhere and everywhere that was necessary within our surrounding neighborhoods to rid the area of decades of past dumping on our environment.” recalls Robert Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.
“I’m glad that EPCAMR with the support of Community Aid, can provide them with some funds to alleviate the costs of the hauling and dumping fees to remove the trash because it’s a local burden on the communities that we are serving to try and secure funds for these costs. 
The value of the time and effort that the volunteers put in on any given Saturday are staggering when you compare it to the actual cash that you have to seek and spend on the removal of the trash. Without the conservation-minded people that are members of The Nanticoke Conservation Club, and the other partners that we continue to work with and strengthen our relationships with over time, we would never be able to remove the sheer tonnage, tires, televisions, mattresses, and volume of household littered trash and debris from our coalfield communities. I can’t thank them enough!” exclaimed Robert.
On the same day at the other end of Newport Township, the Newport Township Crimewatch, led by Amy Saraka, there will be a similar cleanup effort going on with additional funds provided by EPCAMR through a small ARIPPA grant from last year that was awarded to them in the amount of $500 to support the cleanup efforts outside of Wanamie, along the Industrial Park (IP) road on abandoned mine lands too. 
The funds will go towards hauling, proper electronics waste disposal, dumpster, and cleanup supplies on an abandoned mine land area in Newport Township, Luzerne County, PA where up to 40 tires will be removed and 10-12,000 pounds of illegally dumped trash, discarded furniture, construction waste, and household wastes will be removed, in partnership with Newport Township, , Newport Township Police Department, Nanticoke Conservation Club, and EPCAMR. 50 volunteers are expected to participate with their time value at $4726.00, not including support from the Newport Township Public Works Department. EPCAMR will administer the grant on behalf of the NTCW.
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