{"id":13721,"date":"2026-09-21T17:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T21:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epcamr.org\/home\/?p=13721"},"modified":"2026-09-23T14:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:13:24","slug":"epcamrs-30th-anniversary-showcased-hope-and-hard-work-across-the-anthracite-northern-bituminous-coal-regions-on-reclaiming-legacy-abandoned-mine-lands-mine-water-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epcamr.org\/home\/2026\/epcamrs-30th-anniversary-showcased-hope-and-hard-work-across-the-anthracite-northern-bituminous-coal-regions-on-reclaiming-legacy-abandoned-mine-lands-mine-water-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"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"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Saturday evening, around 100 partners and sponsors of EPCAMR attended a celebration of our organization’s 30th anniversary. A small but mighty staff, under the leadership and direction of the founding Executive Director, Bobby Hughes, a newly formed Development Committee chaired by our Vice President and Treasurer, Cristy Sweeney, and our current President, Dr. Joe Simons III, pulled off a tremendous celebration and diverse gathering of Coalition partners at the banquet to reflect back on three decades of collaboration and to look forward to a new frontier for the next 3o years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> and Groove Brewing<\/a> in Scranton, called a Coal Dust Blonde Summer Stout<\/a>. It tasted delicious. Shout out to Gerard Durling from Coal Creative and Ed Genovese-Brew Master from Groove Brewing for making it happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our sponsors really came through for us. See the list on our and in the EPCAMR Banquet Program (Final)<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Sponsors before the banner had gone to print. Additional Sponsors Signage<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Our major Sponsors from Olympus Power LLC, Olympus Services, and Northampton Generating Company LP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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We had some great acoustic dinner music provided by JD Ashford, from JD Ashford Arts<\/a>, 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<\/a> that historically had a fish hatchery in the Bowman’s Creek watershed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JD Ashford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>, Wyoming County Conservation District<\/a>, PA Game Commission NE Region<\/a>, private landowners from the former South Mountain Land Association<\/a>, municipalities in the watershed, and other partners are all in it together.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some of EPCAMR’s partners and Staff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Our oldest former Board Member, Paul Lohin from the Schuylkill Headwaters Association<\/a>, was in attendance at the age of 92.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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