As per the guidelines for having an academic internship at King’s College, student interns must come up with objectives to reach by the end of their internship. The goals that Carolyn set for herself were as follows:

1. Perform 10 North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative (NAACC) culvert assessments to determine ease of fish passage through aquatic infrastructure
2. Use a flow meter or a bucket to determine flow rate at 10 sites affected by abandoned mine drainage (AMD)
3. Use a YSI meter for water quality and perform a field titration for pH at 10 sites affected by AMD
4. Use a photometer to determine the turbidity and concentrations of calcium carbonate (alkalinity), aluminum, iron, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate in samples of water from 3 sites affected by AMD
5. Collect 10 different species of macroinvertebrate specimens for educational use 
6. Foster community involvement and education through overseeing 5 volunteer opportunities, educational events, or workshops hosted by EPCAMR

Generally speaking, these objectives aimed to help Carolyn familiarize herself with the tools and tests done during monthly AMD sampling, help her work towards getting certified as a NAACC Lead Observer for field culvert assessments, and be able to better promote and represent EPCAMR at community events.

Carolyn posing in her waders while holding a stadia rod on her first day of culvert assessments this past summer.

By the end of her internship, Carolyn had successfully completed and even exceeded some of these objectives. Her most notable achievements were that she helped facilitate 9 events rather than only 5, and completed 15 culvert assessments rather than just 10, which brings her close to the 20 assessments needed to become certified as a NAACC Lead Observer. 

For the final project of her internship, Carolyn took Dr. Brian Mangan’s Water Quality Analysis class of King’s College students out in the field to show them some of the culverts she helped assess. She demonstrated to the students how routine maintenance of culverts is essential, using the example of one set of culverts which were so obstructed by tree branches that they trapped more water than they transported.

The inlet (left) and outlet (right) of the set of culverts that Carolyn showed to the students. Note the extreme difference in the height of the water in the two photos and woody debris blockage at the inlet culverts along Shickshinny Valley Road on Little Shickshinny Creek.

Carolyn expressed her thoughts on returning to work with EPCAMR, saying “I’m glad to be back. I’ve ‘returned’ to EPCAMR a few times now, but I know I’ll keep coming back to do my federal work-study with EPCAMR in future semesters. This organization is essential to the community and I’m glad to be a part of it. I can’t wait to see where this organization will take me and how much more I can learn from the team at EPCAMR.”

Recently, Carolyn joined EPCAMR in the collection of AMD samples from several sites, some sites near EPCAMR’s office in northeastern Pennsylvania and other sites in southeastern Pennsylvania. She then went with EPCAMR to deliver the samples to a partner from the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, who will test the AMD samples to determine their content of rare earth elements. The outcome of research on rare earth elements in AMD may be revolutionary for the abandoned mine land reclamation industry, having the potential to drive greater efforts for treating AMD while extracting rare earth elements.

Carolyn sampling AMD from the Mary D discharge treatment system that flows into the Schuylkill River to deliver to the University of Pennsylvania for rare earth elements analysis.

In the coming months, Carolyn will be working on several different projects, such as a draft of the Coldwater Heritage Plan for Shickshinny Creek, which is Carolyn’s hometown watershed. Carolyn also continues to be highly involved in EPCAMR’s routine AMD sampling at sites in the Nanticoke and Loyalsock Creek watersheds. She hopes to complete her final 5 culvert assessments to become certified as a NAACC Lead Observer this Fall and expects to participate in a few illegal dump site cleanups of tires and trash.

Bobby stated, “It’s great to have Carolyn back with us again this Fall. She has seen the value of obtaining an internship early and often and as a returning intern, she keeps building on to her skill sets, adding additional training under her belt, gets to explore new watersheds, and be a major part of our small team here that has fun at work and gets to learn about even more watershed efforts of EPCAMR and our community partners. She loves nature, bugs, moths, butterflies, and critters of the creek. How could I not bring her back? She’s really smart, soft-spoken, listens to my storytelling adventures and random rambling on our field investigations calling out tree species, wildflower species, birds, frogs, and describing numerous AMD treatment system types from around the region. She has great ambition, shows tremendous initiative, and helps us out anyway that she can and is asked to by members of the Staff. I’m sure her parents are very proud of her. She’s getting a very immersive experience and the Community Based Work Study Program allows her to participate in the internship with the guidance and mentorship of Kelly Gibbons, at King’s College.”

The post Carolyn M. Phillips Returns as a Work-Study Intern for the Fall Semester appeared first on epcamr.org.

Jakob with a fully grown adult Northern saw-whet owl during a banding survey (Aegolius acadicus).

Joining us on September 28th as an AmeriCorps Member working with Conservation Legacy Stewards Individual Placements, is Jakob Snipes. He is from Scott Township, Lackawanna County, just outside the Northern Anthracite Coalfields, in the Lackawanna Valley. Jakob graduated from Keystone College on May 16th with a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology. Jakob was in the Eco Club where he found many volunteer opportunities such as Hellbender surveying, song bird banding, and northern saw-whet owl banding.

From the Club he even got an internship for the summer working for Lackawanna County Parks and Recreation where they were taught to maintain the quality of the parks under the department and the Lackawanna  Heritage Valley trail. While working on the trail they would work to clean the trail while fighting back against invasive species such as Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) and Spotted Lantern Fly (Lycorma delicatula). During his final days working for the County, Jakob went on the Lackawanna coal mine tour in McDade Park, Scranton, where he was given a crash course in the history on Anthracite coal mining and the legacy of what it has done to the landscapes and waterways surrounding nearly 474 square miles of northeastern PA.

Jakob (right) working with Morgan (left) doing a culvert survey and measuring the average wetted width of the stream channel in the Shickshinny watershed on Shickshinny Creek on the Kittleson property.

Jakob originally joined EPCAMR as a volunteer in the Spring of 2025, attending illegal dumpsite cleanups and doing culvert surveys, but will now be working with EPCAMR for 10 weeks, thanks to the AmeriCorps program, which fully funded his position with his host site at EPCAMR, supervised by Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director. Jakob is already certified in Aquatic Organism Passage (AOP) through his earlier volunteer experiences with EPCAMR that was completed online for free with the NAACC. While he was a volunteer, he got to experience all that the Shickshinny watershed had to offer by doing culvert surveys, macro-invertebrate studies, and water quality sampling and everything EPCAMR was trying to do to restore stream health from mine drainage pollution and abandoned mine land degradation on State Game Lands 260 in the Shickshinny area, as well as stormwater runoff and streambank degradation from episodic flooding within the watershed and a number of tributary creeks. 

Bobby stated, ” It’s great to have Jakob back with us for the Fall to give him some additional field experience and to pick up where he left off as a volunteer with us over the last year. He’s been in and out of a number of watersheds with us already and is familiar with our work. It won’t take long to give him a refresher on the field work sampling and to get him caught up on our newer projects that we are working on. I can appreciate his love of nature and wildlife, especially birds of prey, since we see all kinds of birds, owls, turkey vultures, osprey, American black ducks, mallards, Great blue herons, and even American Bald Eagles on our field excursions, in addition to songbirds on the abandoned mine lands that are reclaimed and red-winged black birds at AMD treatment systems we visit. I’m thinking he will be able to do an educational article or two on his familiarity with wildlife and tie it in to our reclamation and restoration work while he’s with us.”

Jakob, along with Carolyn Phillips, a returning intern from King’s College, will have plenty of projects to keep them busy with assisting us in our work. Look for another feature article on her in our news section. We also will see the return of Ian Padden, our Wilkes University, Bonner Leader Program volunteer intern, who just finished a Summer State and National volunteer position with EPCAMR.

The post EPCAMR Welcomes Jakob Snipes as our Fall AmeriCorps State & National Volunteer Watershed Outreach Specialist through Conservation Legacy and Stewards Individual Placement appeared first on epcamr.org.

In 1997 the Susquehanna was designated an “American Heritage River” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; an initiative that aimed to represent a diverse group of waterways in need of, or revitalized examples of, environmental restoration, cultural protection, and economic revitalization. The environmental nonprofit American Rivers named the Susquehanna the year’s “Most Endangered River” in 2005, and “#3 Most Endangered River” in 2016. This designation is in part due to the excessive amounts of pollution the river receives.

Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) impacts both branches of the Susquehanna River along their entire lengths. The Main Bituminous Coalfields (soft coal) drain polluted water to the west branch, and the Anthracite Coalfields (hard coal) drain polluted water to the eastern portion of the river basin. In Pennsylvania, AMD is the second highest cause of water pollution, behind only agricultural runoff. Only 30% of streams in the Susquehanna basin demonstrate the natural hydrological and ecological qualities of a healthy stream. Many outside of this 30% have been declared “biologically dead” as they support no aquatic life due to the level of pollution in the water.

Old Forge Borehole AMD picture as it flows into the Lackawanna River.

Aquatic organisms are only the “canary in the coal mine” in this situation. In addition to impacting alkalinity, which on either extreme of the spectrum will harm aquatic life, AMD releases sediments, dissolved metals, and unfriendly gasses. Released gasses, like CO2 and methane, attract mosquitoes which can cause further harm to organisms in the nearby environment. Sediments and dissolved metals such as aluminum clog the gills of organisms living in the polluted waters and can eventually drive these organisms out of the ecosystem. Downstream effects include the leaching of these dissolved metals (think lead, manganese, iron) into groundwater supplies, which are used for municipal drinking water. American Water Works Association raises awareness of impaired groundwater with Source Water Protection Week. This year, it begins on World Rivers Day!

Treatment of Abandoned Mine Lands takes years, millions of dollars, and continued maintenance efforts. Simply “waiting it out”, i.e. waiting for the underground pollutants to deplete, would likely take hundreds of years. Treatment of AMD runoff involves raising or lowering the pH (alkalinity) of the water and removing heavy metals to allow the waterway to return to a state that can again support aquatic life and natural biological processes.

Read about the professional services and technical assistance that EPCAMR provides across PA and our region impacted by AMD and abandoned mine lands in our EPCAMR presentation folder. You can also find out more about our work in our latest EPCAMR brochure 2026.

Learn more about AMD Treatment Systems here, or visit the “Fact Sheets” section of epcamr.org!

The post For World Rivers Day: Cleaning Up and Restoring AMD for the Susquehanna appeared first on epcamr.org.

The event was held at Sand Springs Resort, who did a magnificent job of setting up the venue. The food was excellent. The beer selection on tap was great, which included EPCAMR’s very own beer label, thanks to a partnership between Coal Creative and Groove Brewing in Scranton, called a Coal Dust Blonde Summer Stout. It tasted delicious. Shout out to Gerard Durling from Coal Creative and Ed Genovese-Brew Master from Groove Brewing for making it happen. 

Our sponsors really came through for us. See the list on our and in the EPCAMR Banquet Program (Final). 

We had some great acoustic dinner music provided by JD Ashford, from JD Ashford Arts, who doubled as a photographer for us for the evening, and is the grandson of John “Chief” Sedeski, who has since passed on, but was an integral member of the Stanley Cooper Chapter of Trout Unlimited that historically had a fish hatchery in the Bowman’s Creek watershed.

It is one of the watersheds that had been impacted by legacy acid deposition from coal fired plants in Western PA and the Ohio River Valley. JD, Bobby, and Dr. Joe Simons III, are all still members of the chapter and recall working closely with John nearly 30 years ago on monitoring in the watershed. Today, a Bowman’s Creek revival is happening and we are all working in partnership on continued monitoring and completion of a Coldwater Conservation Heritage Plan for the watershed that was initially assessed by EPCAMR back in 1998, when the now dissolved Bowman’s Creek Watershed Association was formed to address issues in the watershed. The effort is being led by Angie Tuttle, an active volunteer with EPCAMR, who wears many hats in the watershed and is an outstanding conservationist with roots in the Noxen area of Wyoming County. The Luzerne Conservation District, Wyoming County Conservation District, PA Game Commission NE Region, private landowners from the former South Mountain Land Association, municipalities in the watershed, and other partners are all in it together. 

Bobby gave the opening remarks and his speech which gave an overview of the past 30 years; where we’ve come from, how we got there, and where EPCAMR is going.

Before his talk, he asked everyone to bow their heads in a moment of silence for our EPCAMR Board Members that had passed away.

Our oldest former Board Member, Paul Lohin from the Schuylkill Headwaters Association, was in attendance at the age of 92.

It was a heartfelt speech that showed his passion and dedication to the organization and the region as a regional and sometimes national leader for the Coalition. Bobby credited his staff and the board for a lot of the behind the scenes work. His reflective and chronological highlights of the last 30 years speech can be found Bobby’s Opening Remarks Speech. 

Dr. Joe Simons, III, President of EPCAMR gave his remarks on the importance of EPCAMR’s work in the region. Watch a video of his speech below.

Dr. Simons then presented our Keynote Speaker, Dave Hess, former Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection and owner of PA Environment News LLC, with the inaugural “2026 Elevating the Environment Award” for his decades of support of EPCAMR in the media and on the PA Environment Digest. His speech was extemporaneous! He talked about the awakening that we are in right now and that organizations like EPCAMR are needed now more than ever. 

View Dave’s speech, on his blog, here.

Joshua Coleman, from Kings Raising Queens LLC, posted a very nice reflective recap of his impression of the evening that can be found on his social media page. 

Two of Bobby and Mike’s earliest mentors and past Presidents, Ed Wytovich and Bernie McGurl, were in attendance to share in the festivities and walk down memory lane. 

Bobby’s wife, Tara put together a little video clip of some candid photos from the event to music while his youngest son Ethan, who always helps his Dad with cleanups, was styling and profiling at the event. Bobby also gave an initial recap of how grateful he is to be the Executive Director and what it meant to him to watch the evening unfold on his social media page. 

In addition to a slideshow with 30 years of EPCAMR photos, we displayed our trout puppets, Brooky and Rainbow, some iron oxide chalk, our EPCAMR portfolio materials, and dozens of 3D printed commemorative 30 year EPCAMR magnets.

A treasured Board Member of ours, Dr. Andrea Nerozzi, created a wonderful 8″ x 8″ piece of art with iron oxide incorporated into a stream scene of a native brook trout rising for a fly on the water. Contact us if you would like a print!

We express sincere thanks to every one of our Coalition supporters for helping us fulfill our mission of reclaiming abandoned mine lands and restoring waterways impacted by AMD in PA. Here’s to the next 30 years!

See a small photo gallery by the Citizens’ Voice and Hazleton Standard Speaker. Want to see photos from our slideshow and more taken at the dinner? Click the link to our shared folder here.

The post EPCAMR’s 30th Anniversary Showcased Hope and Hard Work across the Anthracite & Northern Bituminous Coal Regions on Reclaiming Legacy Abandoned Mine Lands & Mine Water Pollution appeared first on epcamr.org.

This means Pennsylvania must increase our energy supply to keep costs down – and the
cheapest and fastest type of energy to deploy is renewable energy, namely solar and energy
efficiency measures.

Many households that go solar or use energy efficient measures save hundreds to even
thousands of dollars a year – and organizations that consume a lot of energy can save tens of
thousands a year or more.

Our Executive Director, Bobby Hughes, is a volunteer with Energy Independence for Pennsylvania and has been writing Op-Eds and been posting information to various social media groups to talk about Solar Energy in PA. We’ve done a lot of research on assessing solar suitability for abandoned mine lands. See our Assessment Report co-authored and written by LaBella Associates and EPCAMR back in 2024.

We are presenting and giving the Energy Independence for PA Presentation to our EPCAMR Board Members for their review and further digestion after the meeting on August 20th, 2026, so that they can take it back to their communities and see if it’s something that might be of interest to their members of the community groups, watershed associations, and Conservation Districts that many of them represent. Check out the Energy Independence for PA website for resources and ways that you might be able to save money for you and your families as homeowners and for businesses and non-profits.  

The post Energy Independence in PA! What’s it going to take? Can Solar be a Major Player in the Clean Alternative Energy Mix? appeared first on epcamr.org.

CBWS allows eligible College and University students to use their Federal Work Study award to work off campus, at a local non-profit. Students earn their wages while supporting meaningful community work and gaining real world experiences and assisting non-profits with their impacts withing the communities that they serve by providing some additional organizational capacity to the organizations.

CBWS is designed for students who want their work to matter by contributing locally to the communities that surround their Colleges and Universities. They can gain hands‑on experience in real nonprofit settings, build skills that translate directly to future careers, explore fields like education, social services, history, environmental work, and community outreach. On top of the soft skills and opportunities for applied science, they can also earn certificates that they can add to their resumes and make a positive impact while getting paid. EPCAMR encourages students can contact their Financial Aid or Community Engagement office to learn more about eligibility and placements. Students at King’s College should inquire if they have questions or need more assistance on the process, by stopping by Kelly Gibbons’ office at the Shoval Center or book an appointment with her (in person is preferable)  Book time to meet with me

She has a passion for science, art, and nature, and especially enjoys engaging in her many creative hobbies and spending time outdoors. She will be graduating from King’s College with a Bachelor of Environmental Science in Spring of 2029.  

Carolyn Phillips is EPCAMR’s latest Community Based Work Study student intern from King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Carolyn’s interest in science began early in her life, but she had no way to pursue it until she first participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) competition in seventh grade. The process of designing a scientific experiment and then presenting her findings to a panel of judges was the perfect outlet for her ideas, and she fell in love with the competition, continuing to participate every year up to her senior year of high school. Her hard work and dedication to the program earned her a first award at the regional level all six years of her participation, three of the years having a perfect score, and five first awards at the state level. In her final year of participation, she was also awarded the Senior Excellence Award in Botany, which is presented to the participant with the highest score in the category, as well as a six-year Perseverance Award and a King’s College Scholarship. This year, she became a judge at the regional level of the competition and hopes to continue her involvement with PJAS so that young students’ interests in science may be nurtured and expanded upon, just as she experienced when she was younger.  

Carolyn has lived in Shickshinny, PA for her whole life, and has seen firsthand the scars that the anthracite mining operations have left on the landscape. She recalls frequently seeing the blocked-off coal mine entrances with mine drainage flowing from them, the foundations of old mine offices, the massive culm banks, and sites of major land subsidence while hiking in the local mountains on State Game Lands 260.

At the young age of 10, Carolyn chose to make a diorama of the Knox Mine Disaster, which devastated the Wyoming Valley community back in 1959, for a history project in middle school. Having seen the effects of this industry, Carolyn wishes to aid EPCAMR in remediating the negative local effects of coal mining and increasing outreach to the community to get young minds interested in science. 

Carolyn Phillips created a diorama of the Knox Mine Disaster in 2017, little did she know she’d be working with EPCAMR that developed maps for a feature documentary on the Knox Mine Disaster years later.

Carolyn’s environmental science lectures and labs at King’s have broadened her ambitions to new horizons as she learned about the local wildlife and the environmental issues plaguing the area, many of which result from the anthracite mining industry. She was first introduced to EPCAMR through a trip for her environmental science lab with Dr. Tara Mangan, when the class visited to learn about EPCAMR’s projects and impacts on the environment, as well as educational outreach for the community. After this initial meeting, Carolyn immediately began reaching out to King’s faculty and EPCAMR staff to determine how she could get involved with EPCAMR to make a difference in the community and local environment.  

Carolyn Phillips explores one of the sealed mine entrances and bat caves along Dogtown Road on State Game Lands 260, near Shickshinny where EPCAMR is currently conducting a Coldwater Conservation Watershed Assessment in her hometown. This is one of many sites where the water was sampled for AMD impacts suspected of reaching Rocky Run. (2021) 

Carolyn connected with Kelly Gibbons from the King’s College Shoval Center, which focuses on community engagement and learning, as well as volunteer opportunities, to help her begin working with EPCAMR. Kelly Gibbons worked with Carolyn, as well as Bobby Hughes, the Executive Director of EPCAMR, to arrange a Community-based Federal Work Study position with EPCAMR.  

Carolyn mentioned, “I’m grateful that my classes led me to EPCAMR, and even more grateful that I’ve been able to become involved with EPCAMR so quickly. The process of getting involved was far easier than I thought. I’ve been welcomed with open arms, and I’m very excited to begin working with EPCAMR in time for their 30th Anniversary, which is such a momentous occasion for the organization. I’m also looking forward to earning my Aquatic Organism Protocol free training certification to become a NAACC lead observer to analyze road-stream crossings and learn more about my local watershed after getting 20 of them surveyed under my belt later this year in my hometown watershed.” 

“I’m glad that Carolyn was so interested in seeing if she could find a way to get some hours with EPCAMR through the Federal Community Based Work Study Program at King’s. It’s a program I constantly am informing college students about how they can work directly in the community with area non-profits and get paid at the same time through the program. Since we don’t often have funds to be able to pay the students, unless they are a part of an AmeriCorps VISTA Program and are able to commit to a much longer length of time with more hours involved, this route is a viable alternative. This program allows both the students and EPCAMR to have the flexibility to see that they are getting to class, going to a part-time job oftentimes, and are spending a limited amount of hours directly in their field of interest helping to make a difference in their community outside the college campus and academic environment they are in for the time they are in college.” explained Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.

Besides working with EPCAMR through her Community-based Federal Work Study position, Carolyn also intends to volunteer with EPCAMR for various events, such as cleanups. After first hearing back from Bobby Hughes, Carolyn quickly filled out EPCAMR’s Volunteer Registration Form to get further involved with the organization. 

Carolyn tells us, “These days, it’s so easy to get caught up in your own little world. There aren’t constant reminders of what we’ve done to the environment, only problems which often can only be seen when they’re sought out. Most people would like to ignore things that don’t affect them directly, but what they might not realize is that if we don’t do anything to remediate problems in the environment now, they can snowball into even larger problems that will still need to be fixed in the future. These issues can and will affect the futures of our children and grandchildren, affecting not only the physical world they will live in but also their quality of life.” 

“I’m glad that Carolyn is from the Shickshinny area too! She may know some of the families in the area that we may need to get in touch with later in the Spring and Summer as we continue to macro surveys and bridge and culvert assessments who may live along some of the creeks and streams that we would like to just take measurements of for aquatic passage of fish and macroinvertebrates as a part of our Coldwater Conservation Planning Grant with the PA Council of Trout Unlimited for Shickshinny Creek, Paddy Run, and Rocky Run.” Bobby hopefully exclaimed. “She’s only been here for less than a day so far, and has already completed her NAACC Aquatic Organism Protocol Certificate Training, so I’m sure she’s ready to get her feet wet in her hometown waters around the Shickshinny area.” Bobby joked.

Carolyn will be coming into the EPCAMR Office twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, when she doesn’t have classes, so there is no conflict with her on campus education, and providing us with 6.5 hours a week for 8 weeks. Her activities are outlined in the following Volunteer Activity Description (VAD) entitled, EPCAMR WatershedOutreachGrantResearchSpecialist_Job Description.

The post EPCAMR Brings on Carolyn Phillips as a Community-based Federal Work Study student intern from King’s College as our Watershed Outreach Grant Research Specialist appeared first on epcamr.org.

We created a story map to show the highlights of the report.

Click here to see it fullscreen

Please visit the report website for more details or to download the full report.

The post Southern Wyoming Valley Watersheds American Black Duck and Eastern Brook Trout Habitat Assessment appeared first on epcamr.org.

Dr. King was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia and was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee. He grew up on Auburn Avenue which was home to a relatively well off Black community and he received a solid education. His secure upbringing did not shelter him from the everyday prejudice African Americans experienced, especially in the South. Before attending college, King spent a summer on a tobacco farm in Connecticut, where he realized that the races were not segregated in the North. He later spent time at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he learned about Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence, which inspired his later tactics during the Civil Rights Movement. 

Following the incident on December 1, 1955 during which Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. She was consequently arrested for violating the city’s segregation law, which led to outrage from the public and the eventual formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, with Dr. King as its leader. In his first speech to the group, King declared:

“We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.”

From that point onward Dr. King dedicated the rest of his life in the pursuit of justice and racial equality. He organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference where he discussed race-related issues with religious and civil rights leaders across the county. King and his family eventually moved back to Atlanta where he became co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father. In Birmingham, Alabama 1963 King’s campaign to end lunch counter segregation caught attention nationwide when police released dogs and fire hoses on the peaceful demonstrators. King and a number of his followers were jailed as a result of the demonstration and from Birmingham jail is where King wrote his famous letter, detailing his philosophy of nonviolence:

“You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.”

King’s work eventually resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which authorized the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawed discrimination within publicly owned facilities and places of employment. In December of the same year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 

To honor the work Dr. King has done and celebrate this day, EPCAMR staff and its AmeriCorps members will be participating in acts of service throughout the environmental justice areas of the coalfield communities of Northeastern PA. Environmental Justice areas are those designated by the state or federal government as marginalized communities which experience a disproportionate amount of environmental hazards when compared to other communities.  Some of the primary causes of environmental injustices include systematic racism and intentional policies that target communities of color for undesirable land uses, such as industries that cause high levels of pollution. The environmental justice movement is a social movement that began back in 1980 and was heavily influenced by the American Civil Rights Movement. The goal of the movement is to achieve agency for marginalized communities in making environmental decisions that impact their lives. EPCAMR aids the environmental justice coalfield communities by providing educational resources on the risks and hazards associated with abandoned mine lands, such as mine subsidences and acid mine drainage, to both adults and children. EPCAMR also works with other agencies across the region on the monitoring of mine impacted sites and even the reclamation of these lands. 

For Ways to Get Involved on this Day of Service

https://www.americorps.gov/serve/volunteer/mlk-day

https://americorps.gov/serve/volunteer/mlk-day/mlk-day-resources

For Additional Resources on MLK Day https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/15-year-battle-martin-luther-king-jr-day

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-martin-luther-king-jr-s-birthday-became-a-holiday-3

The post 30th Celebration of MLK Day appeared first on epcamr.org.

Thank you for your participation in the focus groups and summit that helped to inform the development of the Assessment of Solar Development on Previously Impacted Mine Lands in Pennsylvania.

The goal of the assessment was to gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with solar development on active, abandoned, or reclaimed mine sites (collectively referred to throughout the assessment as Previously Mined Lands), and the assessment report provides information on:

• The current state of previously mined lands in Pennsylvania as well as solar development initiatives in Pennsylvania.
• The different factors that affect solar development on previously mined sites compared to non-impacted sites.
• The solar development process on previously mined lands.
• Feedback from different stakeholder groups involved in the solar development process on previously mined lands.
• Recommendations that could lead to the further deployment of solar facilities on previously mined lands.  Recommendations are categorized by Policy and Incentives, Education and Outreach, Program Development, Investment of Federal Funding, and Process Improvements.

In general, the assessment has found that solar development on previously mined sites may be more difficult compared to development on other non-impacted sites, but there are no technical or regulatory issues preventing these types of installations. It is possible to combine different sources of federal Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funding to get a reclaimed site “solar ready”. However, even with the availability of these funding sources for site reclamation, there are additional costs associated with developing projects on previously mined sites compared to non-impacted sites. There is justification for additional public investment (through grants, tax abatements, or other incentives) to further guide development to these previously mined lands if it is identified as policy priority.  Absent of additional incentives, large organizations that make bulk purchases of electricity from solar facilities should be made aware of these additional costs and consider specifying procurement requirements for solar energy sited on previously mined lands when looking to satisfy corporate ESG goals.

Although there are over 216,000 surface acres of Abandoned Mine Land in Pennsylvania, not all of these areas are viable for solar development.  Some of the 216,000 surface acres have mine features (such as flooded strip mines or subsidence prone areas) that make them impractical for siting a solar facility.  Other areas are already been redeveloped or are classified as wetlands.  169,000 acres remain after removing for these areas, and most of this land (74%) is currently forested.  Of these 169,000 acres, 27,000 (16%) have been reclaimed since 1980, while the remaining 142,000 (84%) acres are still awaiting reclamation.  Utilizing only 5% of these 169,00 surface acres with general site characteristics suitable for solar development would result in 9,000 acres that can be repurposed, and the potential deployment of 1.5 gigawatts of solar capacity.   More refining of this data is needed to identify specific areas with favorable site characteristics (slope/terrain, aspect/orientation, and access to electric infrastructure) for solar development, but this analysis was outside the scope of the assessment.

Additionally, there are currently 64,000 acres of permitted active surface mines, and 20,000 acres of permitted coal refuse sites in Pennsylvania. It should be noted that active mines may continue operations well into the future, and not be suitable for solar development in the near- or long-term.  However, if a coal operator decides to proceed with a solar facility as part of the post reclamation land use, these sites may be more attractive since they are larger, contiguous sites with one ownership group.

A final key take-away is the need for additional pathways (such as community solar) for medium sized solar installations to be economically viable in order to unlock previously mined sites for solar development. Previously mined land sites are generally smaller and fragmented, with multiple landowners, and are not ideal for 100 acres plus grid-scale projects. However, there are many 15-30-acre sites that are viable for medium sized solar installations, and this could take pressure off development on agricultural and forested sites.

The full Assessment of Solar Development on Previously Impacted Mine Lands in Pennsylvania can be downloaded here. An executive summary with key findings and recommendations is also available.  Information about the assessment and future updates will be posted to the DEP Solar Energy Resources Hub Developers Page.

The assessment was prepared under a joint effort between The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Energy Programs Office, the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, and LaBella Associates.

The post Assessment of Solar Development on Previously Impacted Mine Lands in Pennsylvania Report appeared first on epcamr.org.

Waterboxxes will be provided free of charge.

The Holland native set out to create a “socially active and environmentally friendly enterprise” to provide solutions for some of humankind’s most pertinent 21^st century problems. In 2003, after Hoff had sold his Lilly business, he founded Groasis. Groasis’ mission includes, but is not limited to resolving issues surrounding “erosion, deforestation, desertification, poverty, climate change, and water scarcity.” Not long after the founding of Groasis, Hoff began to develop what is now the Waterboxx© plant cocoon. Designed to encourage water retention, the Waterboxx© allows various leafy-plants, shrubs, and hardwoods to grow in conditions that would otherwise inhibit natural propagation and growth. “After learning about the program from Gabby Zawacki and Elizabeth Rosser (EPCAMR’s original Inquiring Systems Inc. Waterboxx© grant recipients), I was enthused at the prospect of creating more partnerships within the anthracite region. Also, I am eager to observe in-box seedling success rates, particularly when compared to their control.” says Gavin Pellitteri, EPCAMR Watershed Outreach Specialist and current grant implementer. Pellitteri adds, “If we can continue to attract organizations to take on a few boxes and report monthly data, I think it will provide us with some pretty valuable information concerning seedling success on abandoned mine land sites and other areas within the region. We can then report our results to Inquiring Systems (the grantors), so that they may upload our findings to their national database.”

If you are a part of, or know an organization that is interested in participating in this year’s phase of the Inquiring Systems Inc. Waterboxx© program, please contact Gavin Pellitteri at gpellitteri@epcamr.org or contact the EPCAMR office at 570-371-3522 by May 4^th 2017. EPCAMR requires that participating partners provide regular monthly data reports that contain seedling and control (seedling out of box) growth, type of seedling, soil & air temperature, weather conditions, and date monitored. EPCAMR will provide the appropriate chart for data recordings. While EPCAMR encourages implementation of waterboxxes on abandoned mine lands, they DO NOT have to be planted on AML sites. Community gardens, parks, school grounds, etc. are suitable sites for Waterboxx© implementation as well. The distribution of waterboxxes is on a first come- first serve basis. Multiple may be taken.

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