IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
We Had a Record Turnout for Our 5th Annual Kids Fishing Day!
On Saturday, May 25th, we held our 5th annual Free Kids Fishing Day at Dutch Fork Lake. We were joined by a record-breaking 215+ kids and more than 100 adults for a day of fishing and fun! This event has grown at an unbelievable rate since our first outing in 2021 brought just a couple dozen or two locals together. Since then, we’ve added a number of sponsors and donors including Cross Creek Bait Shop, Crown Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Walmart, Orvis, Striker, and our friends with the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association and Washington County Watershed Alliance. We’ve had the chance to educate residents about the importance of protecting Dutch Fork Lake from coal mining, give away countless poles to children of all ages fishing for the first time, and provide free fun for families from all around the region. Thank you to everyone who attended, volunteered, donated, and helped make this another special day in Washington County!
Connecting Past and Present at our First Ever “Remembering Mather” Event
On May 18th, just one day before the 97th anniversary of the 1928 Mather Mine Disaster, CCJ held our first ever Remembering Mather: How Mining Shaped Greene County event in the town. We came together to commemorate the loss of 195 Greene County coal miners in one of the worst mining disasters in our nation’s history. We had the chance to talk to dozens of residents, almost all of whom had grandparents or other relatives who worked in the mine at the time of the accident. Hearing their stories and seeing what remains of the town decades after the closure of the mine was an important reminder of the long history of mining in Greene County, the ways that its legacy can still be felt today, and the importance of fighting to preserve the many environmental and workplace protections we enjoy today. We look forward to building this event in the coming years ahead of the 100th anniversary in 2028.
Take Our Housing Survey and Join Us at One of Our Housing and Home Repair Town Halls This Summer
Have you had trouble finding or acquiring housing that fits your budget and needs? Do you face issues with costly repairs, exploitative landlords, or unreasonable rental agreements? We want to hear about your experiences with housing in Washington and Greene Counties as part of our work advocating for policies at the state and local level! Take our survey now to help us understand what barriers to buying a home our members are facing and what policies will best improve housing access for those most in need of it across our communities. We’re also hosting a pair of Housing Town Halls later this summer: June 25th in Washington and July 31st in Waynesburg. This is an important part of our efforts to create a housing platform that works for everyone: if you want to get involved or provide additional input outside of these opportunities please contact us at info@centerforcoalfieldjustice.org!
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
Washington County Drug and Alcohol Commission – Recovery Center
Club Serenity is a non-profit organization run by volunteers providing aid in various ways to those dealing with substance abuse disorder. They operate two recovery houses that prioritize fostering a stable environment where residents can join a social network, work on personal goals, and develop into an independent, healthy version of themselves. In addition to the recovery housing, Club Serenity also hosts regular recovery meetings and recreational activities at their location in Charleroi. Club Serenity is willing to provide space to community members looking to host their own recovery meetings. You can contact Club Serenity via an online form and investigate available services further at their website.
BLOGS & NEWS THIS MONTH
Some Black Lung Prevention and Coal Miner Safety Jobs Restored at NIOSH, More Needed to Undo Trump Administration’s Reckless Firings
Last month, we expressed our concern about the Trump administration’s actions putting coal miners and communities at risk. These include office closures at the Mine Safety and Health Administration, layoffs at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and the CDC’s Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, and halting of the new Mining Silica Rule. Since then, a portion of those actions have been reversed by the administration or overruled by the courts. A new memo reverses the Department of Government Efficiency’s plans to shut down 32 MSHA offices in 19 states, though 2 offices in Kentucky and 1 office each in Mt. Pleasant, PA and Pineville, WV will be closed. A lawsuit brought against the administration by a coal miner in West Virginia also led to the reinstatement of 328 NIOSH jobs in Morgantown and Cincinnati, though more than 550 remain laid off at other offices, including those in Pittsburgh working to prevent coal worker illness, injury, and death. It is encouraging to see the reversal of some of these detrimental policies as workers, residents, community organizations and elected officials continue to demand justice and sanity at these vital watchdog facilities. However, much more is needed to restore confidence in our government’s commitment to safety and dignity for coal miners.
BLOG POST | Explaining PJM Part 2: PJM is Failing Pennsylvanians
The PJM Interconnection, the largest regional transmission organization in the United States, has once again demonstrated its inability to effectively address the longstanding interconnection queue backlog. Despite years of criticism and the urgent need for reform, PJM’s recent actions have proven insufficient in facilitating the timely integration of renewable energy projects into the grid. Read More.
TAKE ACTION
NEW — SB 102 Punishes Communities That Protect Residents from Fracking – Tell Your State Representative to Vote NO Today!
Last year, Cecil Township won major protections for residents’ health by passing an ordinance prohibiting development of new unconventional gas wells within 2,500 feet of homes and businesses and 5,000 feet of schools and hospitals. This win came after a years-long fight and multiple hearings where residents voiced their concerns about the health impacts of fracking. Shortly after, Senator Camera Bartolotta, who represents Cecil Township in the Pennsylvania State Senate, introduced SB 102, a bill that would punish communities that implement ordinances like the one in Cecil. It would direct the PA Utilities Commission to withhold drilling impact fees from municipalities that “unreasonably limit” fracking without defining what makes a policy unreasonable. These impact fees are intended to compensate communities that are already burdened by oil and gas development, with funds usually going towards infrastructure projects, emergency preparedness, environmental protection, and reclamation services. The funds have nothing to do with future development, so cutting them off over policies that protect communities from further harm makes no sense and only serves to punish communities for advocating against corporate interests.
SB 102 forces municipalities to choose between protecting their residents’ health and continuing to receive funding that many of these communities depend on and are entitled to. This bill is a message: polluters are more important to our legislators than the communities that elected them. Learn more and tell your representative to reject this bill that would punish communities trying to protect themselves from the dangers of fracking.
Protect Overburdened Communities from Additional Pollution: Tell Your PA State Representatives to Vote YES on HB 109
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is advancing a bill that would be crucial to helping communities like those in Southwestern Pennsylvania that are overburdened with the effects of industry pollution, but still have new projects permitted in them every day. The current permitting process at the DEP does not allow for the consideration of “cumulative impacts”, defined as “the totality of existing and imminent environmental and public health impacts of pollution in a defined geographic area.” Instead, if a permit application meets all of the requirements set out by law, it is given approval no matter what industry already exists in the community.
HB 109 would change that. It allows the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to deny or modify a permit based on the cumulative impacts of pollution on the community in which the project is proposed. While it would only apply to projects proposed in designated Environmental Justice Areas rather than the whole state, this bill would still provide crucial protections for our most impacted communities by giving DEP the ability to consider and take action on cumulative impacts. It gives both DEP and impacted residents more tools to ensure vulnerable communities’ health and safety isn’t further put at risk to benefit industry expansion.
Protect Access to Voter Registration — Stop the SAVE Act!
The SAVE Act adds arbitrary, time-consuming paperwork and restrictions to our already safe and secure voting registration process. This bill – passed by the U.S. House earlier this month and up for vote in the Senate soon – would severely, and unnecessarily, restrict voting access to millions of people, particularly our nation’s most vulnerable populations.
It requires anyone registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship in-person via a birth certificate, passport or military ID, not just a driver’s license that most voting-age Americans have access to. This would eliminate the convenience of online or mail-in registration, disenfranchise an estimated tens of millions of legal American citizens who can’t access the required documents, and place further burden on understaffed election offices. Over half of the U.S. population does not possess a passport, with lower-income Americans especially affected, and obtaining one is both expensive and time-consuming. The bill also includes ambiguous language that could make registration much harder for anyone, including approximately 80% of married women who have changed their name, leaving it up to individual states to manage and causing even more confusion.
Voting is our right as U.S. citizens and we shouldn’t have to navigate a minefield of document requests and fees just to fulfill our civic duty. Sign CCJ’s letter telling Senators Fetterman and McCormick to VOTE NO on the SAVE Act and preserve our constitutionally protected access to the ballot box!
Setbacks Save Lives: Support Fracking Buffer Zones in Pennsylvania!
Our PA Department of Health found that if a child lives within one mile of an oil and gas well, they have a 5-7 times greater chance of getting lymphoma. MAD-FACTS is demanding that our local government and state officials protect our children and communities by enacting greater setbacks. This is a common sense measure that will protect our communities and MAD-FACTS is here to ensure that our leaders and residents know the facts.
Currently in Pennsylvania, an oil and gas well can be placed 500 feet from your home. Is this the best the oil and gas industry can do to protect the health of our children? We are asking for common sense reform to the current oil and gas setback in Pennsylvania. We are demanding further protections for our health, and now is the time to take action. Join us in telling our state legislators that we want to protect the children of our community by enacting common sense setbacks from the oil and gas industry.
PUBLIC NOTICES đź“‘
Read all of the latest relevant public notices from the past month for Washington and Greene Counties as of May 19th here.
UPCOMING CCJ EVENTS 🗓️
DRYerson Festival: 20 Years Without Duke Lake
June 14 | 1 – 4 PM | Wind Ridge, PA
Join Center for Coalfield Justice for our annual DRYerson Festival at Ryerson Station State Park. This year’s festival is very special, and particularly bittersweet, as we reflect on the 20th year since the loss of Duke Lake, the former crown jewel of Ryerson. In July of 2005, the dam was damaged by coal mining and the lake was permanently drained. Despite this loss, CCJ has continued to advocate for Ryerson and its value as one of the few recreational areas in Greene County, and residents haven’t given up on revitalizing the park. We will be sharing some of the exciting developments about what’s to come for Ryerson State Park!
We invite you to join us for this event, where we will be enjoying the beautiful outdoor space Ryerson still offers with plenty of FREE food, live music, kids’ activities, and community conversation about what the future of the park can look like! CCJ is always proud to host this event that allows our community to come together to remember what was, and look forward to what can be. We hope to see you there!
MAD-FACTS Meeting — Environmental Justice Areas: What You Need to Know
June 18 | 6:00 PM | Burgettstown, PA
Join us for a MAD-FACTS lesson on Environmental Justice Areas. Do you live in an environmental justice area? Do you want to know if your community is disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and what you can do to protect yourself? Do you have concerns about cancer in your community and how this relates to environmental justice? Please join us to gain knowledge and resources to create positive changes for our community.
MAD-FACTS Baseball Fights Cancer Night with Washington Wild Things
July 26 | Tailgating: 5 PM, First Pitch: 7:05 PM | EQT Park, Washington, PA
We want to take you out to the ballgame! We’re excited to host members of MAD-FACTS (Moms and Dads: Family Awareness of Cancer Threat Spike) and CCJ to acknowledge the amazing work being done by this volunteer-led group of concerned residents. For two years, this devoted group has helped increase awareness of oil and gas concerns that affect our health and well-being in our communities. Celebrate with us at Baseball Fights Cancer Night as the Washington Wild Things take on the Florence Y’alls. Come early to enjoy CCJ’s tailgate before the game begins! Tickets are limited – register now to claim your family’s FREE tickets before they’re gone! (4 tickets max)
ALLY & COMMUNITY EVENTS:
6/10 — Shelby’s Poles for Kids Annual Benefit Concert
11 AM at Bobtown/Dunkard Township Park
Poles for Kids gives away free fishing poles to kids, raises awareness of childhood cancer, and spreads smiles and positivity while honoring Shelby Barnhart’s life, legacy, and love of fishing. Tune in for their annual benefit concert in Bobtown featuring music by Slim Pickins and Jeff Hughesman. Tickets are $10. For more information, call 724-998-1032
Learn more about this and other events from Shelby’s Poles for Kids here
6/11 — Is Pennsylvania Ready for Data Centers? It’s a Lot to Compute!
7 PM on Zoom
Big Tech companies want to ramp up fracking in our communities to fuel their new hyperscale data centers. These facilities use massive amounts of energy for anything from cloud computing to AI tools to cryptocurrency mining, creating a strain on our electric grid and potentially leading to increased utility rates. Data centers are already proposed throughout our region and more are sure to come. Join this webinar with ProtectPT, Three Rivers Waterkeeper, Breathe Project and Loudon Climate Project to learn about the impacts hyperscale data centers could have on your community and what we can do to protect our health and resources.
Register Here
6/14 — Juneteenth Celebration
10:30 AM – 8 PM at Main Street Pavilion (Washington, PA)
Celebrate Juneteenth with live music, food trucks, kids activities, and a parade on Main Street at 10:30AM with Grand Marshall Mayors JoJo Burgess and Demond Nixon. Presented by the Resource Fundraiser and Leadership Investment Group.
6/21 — Rockin’ on the Mon Riverfest
2 – 11 PM at Monongahela Aquatorium
Enjoy music, food, and fun right on the bank of the Monongahela River. Featuring musical performances by Broom, Right Turn Clyde, Walkin’ Rosie, and Whey Jennings (grandson of Waylon!), there’s plenty to do for all ages and you can even take it all in from the water if you have a boat to anchor nearby!
Buy tickets here or at the gate
WEEKLY AND MONTHLY EVENTS:
Tuesdays & Saturdays — Greene County Flea Market
7 AM – 2 PM at Greene County Fairgrounds
Wednesdays — Waynesburg Farmers Market
10 AM – 1 PM at High St and Morris St
Thursdays — Main Street Farmers Market
3 – 6 PM at Main Street Pavilion (Washington, PA)
Fridays (starting 6/6) — Monongahela Farmers Market
3 – 6 PM at Chess Park
Saturdays — McDonald Farmers Market
9 AM – 12 PM at McDonald Trail Station and History Center
Every Other Saturday — Music Saturday Nights
7 – 9 PM at New Freeport Fire Hall
Second Saturday Monthly —Free Food Pantry
9 AM – 12 PM at Lemoyne Center
You can find more community events in Washington County here and Greene County here.