For Robert “Bobby” Hughes, coal runs deep in Northeast Pennsylvania’s blood — both in the region’s identity and in its environmental impact.
But he says many people stopped telling its story. He's the executive director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR).
It’s a coalition of watershed organizations and conservationists dedicated to mitigating the impacts of abandoned mines.
"We fill a gap that nobody else [does] ... Because most people don't know a whole lot of things about [what's] in their backyard," said Hughes.
The history of what's in our backyards, and mostly underground, is fraught in Pennsylvania.
Once the region’s greatest source of income, the coal mining industry buckled under a growing natural gas industry and environmental regulations.
Pennsylvania has the most abandoned coal mines in the nation, which puts the state at risk of orange-tinted, toxic vats of water to open seemingly out of nowhere — even under homes and neighborhoods. Last April, subsidences from Toby Creek in Luzerne County opened in yards on Hughes and Hill streets in Swoyersville.
Hughes explained how mining is both a source of regional pride and sorrow.
He took a group of three young environmentalists on May 1 to survey Shickshinny Creek’s bridges, culverts and anything else that might prevent fish and other aquatic life from migrating through the stream and its headwater tributaries. It’s part of a “stream continuity assessment” to address the health of waterways in parts of Columbia and Luzerne counties.
That assessment, along with research into the area’s former coal mining plants and existing aquatic wildlife will coalesce into a Coldwater Conservation Plan. EPCAMR hopes it will lay the groundwork for future conservation projects funded by local municipalities and agencies like the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission.
Hughes added that the organization foremost works to document the region’s history to take responsibility for its future. He argued that people cannot address environmental degradation without understanding its source, but talking about its history is complicated and often painful.
“I think a lot of the older generations … don't want to talk about it because it was so detrimental [to their health] … [Many] were taken advantage of … it was the only job in town. And that's what happens when you have a single economy built around coal,” said Hughes.
Miners’ work was dangerous. They faced workplace injuries and black lung disease from continuously breathing in coal dust.
Hughes said the men who worked in the mines and women who worked in textile plants — an industry that suffered a similar fate to mining — made Northeast Pennsylvania what it is today.
“The people that are talking about coal history … they're not holding on to it because they want it back. They're holding on to it because [of] the values that they grew up with: to be a hard worker … grow their own food and be sustainable and not depend on the government all the time,” said Hughes.
Hughes grew up at the heart of the Anthracite Coal Region in Wilkes-Barre. Most of the region’s streams have the tell-tale sign of orange water from mine subsidence, he said.
“We [heat] Philadelphia, heat New York City with the coal [off] our backs. Our communities really suffer greatly in terms of environmental degradation … We should not have … streams running orange. It's not fair. It's just not fair. And I've grown up with them my entire life, and they're still orange … This is because there's not a lot of money going into [cleaning them.] There was no effort or anybody to call,” said Hughes, his voice tense with anger.
He started EPCAMR 28 years ago in 1997. Now, the organization teaches young environmentalists to clean the remnants of the mining industry for future generations.
Diving into conservation work at a young age
Along Baer Road in Union Township, Luzerne County, four environmentalists measured bridges and waterways on Thursday. Hughes led the group. They documented the size of piping connecting parts of the creek underground, its condition and how easily fish and other aquatic life could get through.
It was Wilkes University Freshman Ian Padden’s first time in the water with the survey team. He worked with EPCAMR for the spring semester after switching his major to environmental engineering.
“I've never thought observing water could be so cool. You learn something new every day,” Padden said.
The team studied the health of the watershed, making notes on whether the streambed was at risk of erosion or if it had a sound riparian buffer. Plants in riparian buffers cushion waterways from flooding and runoff.
Maria Gereda, the team’s GIS and Watershed intern, is learning to combine maps and database analysis to show how the watershed could be affected by the coal mining operations that used to run nearby the creek. She said she’s always been interested in conservation work.
“My parents really raised me to care about the environment, so it was kind of something that just came naturally. And, I think just growing up into adulthood, you … see the issues that we have [with the environment] aren't really being faced or really being solved. And so, I knew it was something that I would be passionate about no matter what,” said Gereda.
Unlike Padden and Gereda, Morgan Romanowski said she did not grow up with a strong connection to the outdoors. But she said that changed during her second year at Wilkes, when COVID forced everyone to stay indoors. Romanowski was studying Biomedical Engineering at the time.
“But when COVID hit … I realized I didn't really enjoy the classes that I was in, and I couldn't really see doing it as a career,” said Romanowski.
Having to take high-level math courses online didn’t help, she said.
“I was struggling through it … so I started really looking into what I'd actually enjoy. And … I was one of the people that realized … I was not appreciating the outdoors as much as I could have. When you're cooped inside all the time [because of the pandemic,] you realize how nice it actually is to be outside and in nature,” said Romanowski.
She switched her major to environmental science and later studied abandoned mine reclamation for her senior research project on Nanticoke Creek.
“That really opened my eyes to problems due to abandoned mines,” said Romanowski, who now works as a community watershed outreach specialist with EPCAMR and AmeriCorps.
Funding barriers to conservation efforts
Hughes added that his organization’s work, like conservation efforts across the nation, is under fire from cuts from the Trump Administration. EPCAMR lost funding from the Energy Community Assistance Program, which Hughes said provided financial support to environmental justice areas.
“[It helped people] in coal-filled communities, underserved populations and poverty-stricken areas. And they stripped all that away with their executive order … [and now] we can't use those terms, (like environmental justice).
In place of federal funding, Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation is working to secure funds from state and local partners. Hughes named the Luzerne Foundation as one of their local partners.
EPCAMR’s Coldwater Conservation Plan will be completed in several months, said Hughes, who did not provide a specific timeline.
