Llywellyn Westrick standing in an old fire tower in Adirondack Mountains, Newcomb, New York.

Lyw grew up on the west-side of the Baltimore-metro area, spending significant time outdoors playing baseball, soccer, hiking Maryland state parks, as well as periodical sailing/fishing on the Chesapeake Bay. He is one of only two members of his entire family working in the environmental field, the other being his great aunt who is an environmental lawyer out in Washington State. He is the oldest of three siblings, each of whom have an interest in environmental awareness. In his free time, Lyw enjoys hiking, watching live music, attending sporting events, and the occasional skateboard sesh.

“As an environmental studies undergraduate student who has been long concerned with the issue of water quality, I am very excited to learn more about the extent of the problem of eastern Pennsylvania Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) and how that impacts stream ecosystems, drinking water, etc.” Though I have gained foundation on the subject through my collegiate studies, I believe that EPCAMR will provide me with professional, firsthand opportunities to participate in efforts to actively address such issues.”

Robert stated, ” I think Lyw will find that he will have an excellent opportunity over these next few months as we transition from Summer to Fall and Winter activities that there will be enough activities for him to become more familiar with how an organization such as EPCAMR operates, builds community support for projects, seeks funds for grants, educates youth, and builds coalitions with our extensive network of partners across PA in the field of abandoned mine reclamation to help restore our streams impacted by AMD and to support the reclamation and redevelopment of our abandoned mine lands. I am sure that he will do well. On his first day, he has had to clean hundred year old or more mine maps from the former Franklin Brewery that is now the PA DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation’s Warehouse along St. Mary’s Road in Hanover Township, along Solomon Creek, and then came back to the office to seek out donations from local grocery stores for gift cards to support the purchase of supplies and refreshments for the upcoming October 21st, 2017 Centralia Cleanup.”

The post EPCAMR Brings on Llywellyn Westrick, King’s College Senior for Fall Work Study Internship appeared first on epcamr.org.

EPCAMR is helping to put the word out about a full-time opening in Wilkes-Barre for one of our regional partners.

Job Description: Northeast PA Outreach Coordinator (Wilkes-Barre)

The Outreach Coordinator educates PennFuture members, the environmental advocacy community, and decision makers about environmental and conservation issues with an emphasis on climate, water, and energy-related policies. He or she is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with PennFuture constituents, including coalition partners, and representing PennFuture’s positions to the general public. The Outreach Coordinator works with a team of professionals including attorneys, policy experts, media professionals and other outreach staff and is the public face of the organization in northeast Pennsylvania.

Job Duties:

• Implement environmental issue campaigns by defining and managing objectives, recruiting coalition members, and coordinating meetings and events
• Work with other environmental advocacy organizations to organize and facilitate meetings and events – occasional evening and weekend hours
• Community outreach, event tabling, public speaking
• Recruit and manage members, supporters, and volunteers
• Manage and implement a range of grant deliverables and campaign activities
• Assist with grant writing, editing, and reporting
• Craft campaign e-mails, action alerts, blog and social media posts
• Draft, edit, and submit letters to the editor and other opinion pieces
• Build support for local, state, and federal legislative priorities
• Occasional lobbying of public officials and government agencies
• Draft and present testimony at public hearings pertaining to environmental issues
• Work with law staff to develop cases for litigation and respond to requests for assistance as well as general inquiries
• Conduct reporter interviews by phone and in person, speak at press conferences and other media events
• Steer our regional climate, water, clean-energy, and sustainability work and assist with other initiatives
• Perform office administrative duties, including member data entry, as directed

Qualifications:

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Excellent social media skills.

Enthusiasm for PennFuture, its mission, and its brand.

Detail oriented and highly organized.

Driver License.

Familiarity with non-profit organizations is preferred though not required.

Education and experience:

Bachelor’s degree.

3-5+ years in outreach, advocacy, or organizing.

Deep understanding of conservation, environmental, and energy issues.

Strong leadership skills and ability to work with staff on site and remotely.

Understanding of Pennsylvania’s environmental/conservation landscape.

Location, Compensation and Timeline:

The position is based in Wilkes-Barre. Competitive salary based on experience. Generous benefits package includes health care, dental, life insurance and paid time off.

Submission:

Please submit your cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references to the Director of Outreach at andrews@pennfuture.org. Please write “Northeast PA Outreach Coordinator” in the subject line. The application deadline is September 26, 2016.

The post PennFuture Is Hiring a NE PA Outreach Coordinator based in Wilkes-Barre appeared first on epcamr.org.

Video by Michael Hewitt

Article By Paul Golias, Correspondent

The massive water pools under the Wyoming Valley are both a potential blessing and a curse.

The topmost level of the stratified 274.3 billion gallons of water is useable for industrial and commercial applications. The water could be purified for drinking if a drought emergency required such actions. That is the blessing.

The curse is the potential for subsidence is the pool is so dramatically disturbed that the ebb and flow of water causes surface problems ranging from flooding to serious subsidence that damages homes and businesses. Additionally, tapping the topmost strata of water would leave polluted water for potential future uses.

“Is there a danger? Yes.” said Robert Hughes, Executive Director of EPCAMR. “We need to focus on quality and stratification,” he said.

We know more about the water pool today than any period in the history of heavily-mined Wyoming Valley due to the extensive pool mapping work of EPCAMR. Hughes said EPCAMR used surface mine maps, underground mine maps, and cross section maps withing municipal boundaries obtained from the now-closed Federal Office of Surface Mining Folio Maps. The maps had been housed in the Stegmaier Building, Wilkes-Barre.

In addition, EPCAMR staff has monitored mine pool levels through boreholes around the Wyoming Valley. Unfortunately, some of those boreholes are being paved over.

Michael Hewitt, EPCAMR Program Manager, said a borehole in the Hanover Industrial Park was recently paved over during construction of new roads in connection with a major warehouse project there.

The borehole, Hewitt said, was near a sewer cover on the shoulder of the road. He could easily take readings of the Huber Colliery pool in that borehole, he said.

“We are down to 22 boreholes in the Wyoming Valley,” Hewitt said. The 15 that have been lost include three paved over in Exeter Borough and three more in Plymouth Borough, Hewitt said.

Hughes said it is vital to focus on the importance of the water pools due to the interest by natural gas producers in using mine water for fracking, the process that uses water under pressure to fracture the underground shale deposits that hold natural gas.

At the same time, plans for the PennEast Pipeline are unclear and EPCAMR has warned that a pipeline placed in the alluvial material atop the mine water pools could impact the pools, depending on the depth of the pipeline. Also, barrier pillars that separate the pools are in play, Hughes said.

The alluvial material, mainly sand and gavel, has been dubbed The Buried Valley of the Susquehanna. The alluvium is at various thicknesses under the Susquehanna, such as 142 feet at the levee in Wyoming. There are many veins of coal mapped under the Susquehanna and the entire valley, Hughes said. The withdrawal of water and the disturbance of the pools poses “a risk for mine subsidence,” he said.

Hughes recommended that people who do not have mine subsidence insurance consider obtaining a policy. He estimated only 10 percent of Wyoming Valley homeowners have such insurance.

Meanwhile, EPCAMR is providing municipalities in the former anthracite mining area with free mining maps to assist in community planning, coping with possible natural gas pipeline placement, and with mine subsidence issues.

Ironically, a $5,000 grant to the agency from PennEast Pipeline’s Community Connector Grant Program made the project possible. PennEast said it links with not-for-profit organizations to support safety, environment and education, and energy sector workforce development.

Hughes said the top 20 feet of water in the pools is “relatively clean.” The next 30-40 feet gets murkier and sediment increases at lower depths until the bottom of the pool where the water is “blackest of black,” he said.

Some mine water flows into streams and acid mine drainage projects have been underway for years. EPCAMR has been involved in those as has Earth Conservancy, where EPCAMR has its offices.

The water can flow back and forth between pools, across barriers left in place by mining companies as boundary lines. Some barriers were removed when one company bought another, Hughes said.

Using historical data and current water measurements, EPCAMR arrived at the staggering 274.3 billion gallons estimate for the mine pools under the valley. That does not include the Butler Mine Pool for which data is lacking.

Mine water is being used for geothermal energy development and industrial processes. The ARIPPA co-generaltion plant in Schuylkill County uses mine water to cool a tower. Frackville Wheelabrator uses mine water to runa  stream generator that heats and cools the state correctional facility at Frackville.

Earlier this month, Kenneth M. Klemow, professor of biology and environmental sciences at Wilkes Unviersity, and colleagues released a report on the potential impact of natural gas drilling on surface water, such as streams, creeks, and rivers. The predictive model did not prove drilling impacts on streams but it did project vulnerability.

Hughes said much more work needs to be done to study the mine pools, including how they impact surface water. He said a regional approach is necessary, an approach taken in a landmark 1949 report on underground water in area mines by Steven Ash and others of the Bureau of Mine, U.S. Department of the Interior. EPCAMR used Ash’s data in its calculations.

Hughes is on Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection’s Pipeline Infratructure Task Force’s Environmental Protection Workgroup to address pipeline infrastructure and development concerns related to abandoned mines.

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