IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commemorating 20 Years Without Duke Lake at DRYerson 2025
This year’s 19th annual DRYerson Festival was extra special: it commemorated the 20th anniversary of the draining of the beloved Duke Lake at Ryerson Station State Park due to damage from mining operations. The weather held up enough to allow for staff and volunteers from Center for Coalfield Justice, Friends of Ryerson, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), and community members to gather along the former shoreline and share memories of the lake while expressing their hopes for the park’s future. We were honored to be joined by guitarist Dan Baker, who performed throughout the event once again; Ryerson Park employee and Parsonality Painting artist Jonni Parson, who offered face painting for attendees of all ages; and Greene County Technical College’s CTC Eats food truck, which served free burgers, pierogis, chicken tenders and more, made and served by students in the college’s culinary arts program.
The event also featured speeches by Shelly Richardson and Brandy Tuttle, sisters who shared their perspectives from the day the lake drained and the past 20 years of advocacy for the re-vitalization of the park. Our Executive Director Sarah Martik also spoke about the role of community voices and organizations like CCJ in shaping the future of the park. Finally, Ryerson Park Manager Casse Criss and DCNR State Park Pittsburgh Division Manager Kevin Blair shared the latest proposals and update, explaining that work on the next phase is set to begin in fall of 2026. We will continue to monitor progress alongside the Friends of Ryerson and advocate for community input on the programs and projects at the park. Read more of our Event Coordinator Sarah’s reflections on the event at her blog post here.
CCJ Spent June Lobbying in Harrisburg and D.C. with Partners from Across the Nation!
Team CCJ took to Capitol Hill this month for lobby weeks with a pair of our coalition partners to share perspectives about our communities in Southwestern Pennsylvania and advocate for policies that protect our health, homes and futures. From June 2-4, we joined more than 50 advocates with the Alliance for Appalachia from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee who came together to meet with more than 30 congressional offices about upholding environmental justice, protecting public lands from mining, addressing flooding and access to clean water in rural areas, and defending healthcare, housing and economic development for our most vulnerable communities.
The following week, we were part of Break Free From Plastic’s Hill Week alongside 60+ attendees from across the country seeking cosponsors for the Farewell to Foam Act and the Reducing Waste in National Parks Act as well as educating lawmakers about the health harms of plastic pollution and the need for action across the full lifecycle of plastics. The coalition spoke to 109 Congressional offices and we saw a number of new cosponsorships on those bills in the days following our trip!
To round out the month, a dozen CCJ members and staff visited Harrisburg on June 23rd, where Pennsylvanians from across the state with the All Eyes On Yass campaign flooded the Pennsylvania Capitol to make a clear demand to lawmakers: no more budget cuts to protect billionaires’ bank accounts. The coalition called for legislators to skip cuts to crucial state-funded programs and services and instead generate revenue by taxing billionaires like Jeff Yass, the state’s richest billionaire and funder of 1 in 3 state legislators’ campaigns since 2017. CCJ dropped in on local lawmakers Senator Camera Bartolotta, Representative Bud Cook, and Representative Jason Oritay to express the importance of funding programs in rural communities like ours. Following these meetings, our Community Organizer Gavyn was one of many speakers who called out Yass and lawmakers who place the interests of the wealthy over the needs of working families.
Progress on Housing and Home Repair Policies and Opportunities to Make Your Voice Heard in Our Work!
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? CCJ is leading on several opportunities to guide policies and advocate for solutions at the state and local level. As members of the Pennsylvania Climate Equity Table, CCJ has joined allies from across the state pressuring lawmakers to pass the PA Home Preservation Program, an updated version of the popular, bipartisan Whole Home Repairs Program. PACET members met with legislators in Harrisburg earlier this month and urged them to support bills establishing the program and it recently passed the PA House. Both Representative Jason Ortitay and Senator Camera Bartolotta have shown support for the program following our advocacy and we’re committed to continuing our efforts to get this bill across the finish line! You can support this work and call on your Senator to make sure this bill makes it to Governor Shapiro’s desk by submitting the form here.
CCJ strives to for our positions and priorities to reflect the views of our community members. As we continue organizing around housing and home repair policy, we want to hear about your experiences in Washington and Greene Counties. Take our survey now to help us understand what barriers to buying homes and affording critical home repairs our members are facing and what policies will best address the needs of our communities. We’re also hosting the second of our Housing Town Halls on July 31st in Waynesburg at 6:00 PM. 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
Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Network
Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Network (PA HRN) is a statewide organization that endeavors to reduce harm to those who use drugs in several ways. The organization pursues their vision of public health and self-determination through collaboration, advocacy, public education, information sharing, and supporting access to harm reduction resources and supplies. PA HRN is a leader in advocating for effective legislation to mitigate negative effects of drug use to the user and to the broader community. For example, the organization convenes a working group of advocates working towards the passage of statewide syringe service program legislation to reduce infection prevalence and needle litter. The organization also provides training to other groups on various harm reduction strategies, as well as resources for those seeking to practice safety protocols in their own lives. Check out what they are working on and sign up for their email list here!
BLOGS & NEWS THIS MONTH
Remembering Duke Lake
Posted June 3, 2025
Growing up in Greene County, Duke Lake at Ryerson Station State Park was a community hub for all. That changed 20 years ago in July 2005 when the lake was drawn down due to structural damage to the dam by coal mining operations. CCJ Events Coordinator and Greene County native Sarah discusses what Duke Lake meant to her and how its loss continues to be felt today. Read More.
Tire Pyrolysis: A False Solution for the Mon Valley
Posted June 11, 2025
Recently, Rep. Bud Cook introduced a bill to clarify that tire pyrolysis is considered advanced recycling in Pennsylvania. While that may sound like good news, when the details are analyzed, it becomes clear that they are false solutions like so many others that are being proposed in Pennsylvania. Read More.
Is your Home Sitting Above an Old Coal Mine? Learn How to Submit a Coal Status Report
Posted June 23, 2025
From the death of Elizabeth Pollard – who fell into a sinkhole above an abandoned mine last December – to the 2023 Vesta #4 mine collapse that damaged roads and streams in Daisytown, the sudden and significant impacts of legacy mining are on full display in southwestern Pennsylvania. Learn more about the risks of living above abandoned coal mines and how to protect your family and property. Read More.
Cecil Township Residents Win Against Range Resources in Zoning Challenge!
Posted June 24, 2025
The Cecil Township Zoning Hearing Board dismissed Range Resources’s challenge to the Township’s new oil and gas ordinance that increases buffer zones between fracking infrastructure and homes, schools and hospitals. This case is about Cecil Township. It is also about empowering communities everywhere. Local governments must be able to protect their residents from the known harms of industrial development, particularly when those harms affect air, water, and long-term health. 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
Read all of the latest relevant public notices from the past month for Washington and Greene Counties as of June 23rd here.
UPCOMING CCJ EVENTS
Greene County Housing and Home Repair Town Hall
July 31 | 6 – 8:00 PM | Waynesburg, PA
🏠 Do you have issues finding affordable housing? Is your home in need of repairs or updates? PA has an energy inefficient and aging housing stock – causing higher utility bills and impacting the amount of money residents have to maintain and update their homes. Our state government is working on programs that could help provide some housing solutions, but first we need them to hear from us!
📅 Please join us at our Washington County Housing and Home Repair Town Hall on July 31st. Free snacks and refreshments will be available along with resources and opportunities to make your voice heard.
Ally & Community Events
7/4 — Greater Canonsburg 4th of July Celebration
10 AM – 10:20 PM
Parade begins at Cavasina Drive near Walgreens and proceeds westward onto Pike Street ending at Bluff Street. Following the parade, there are free family activities from Noon to 6:00 PM at Canonsburg Town Park including free pool admission, various children’s activities and live music. The day’s activities conclude with fireworks at Canon MacMillan stadium at 10:00 PM. (Time is subject to change and rain date will be determined.)
Learn More
7/12 — Pittsburgh Environmental Action Day
9 AM at Pittsburgh City-County Building (414 Grant St.)
Join dozens of environmental advocates across the SWPA region to rally for a healthier environment that is protected by our elected leaders! The event will include a rally and march downtown featuring speeches from frontline leaders on air pollution, plastic waste, climate change, and more. Stick around afterwards for a concert and lunch from black-owned food vendors.
Free Tickets Here
7/16 — Yoga in the Park
6 PM at Mingo Park Camping Area near Observatory
Join us for an evening of relaxation and rejuvenation as we enjoy yoga in the park. This is an introductory class, but we welcome all skill levels to participate. The class will be led by a certified yoga instructor, Susan Volkar. Bring along a yoga mat or beach towel.
Pre-registration required ($5 fee)
7/26 — Wash Arts Fest on North Main
Noon – 10 PM at N Main St. from Beau to Chestnut (Washington, PA)
Wash Arts is filling the streets of Washington with creativity, joy and community spirit this summer at the first ever Wash Arts Fest! Enjoy live music, food trucks, art vendors, tie-dye, and more.
Learn more and register here
7/26 — Excellent Alternatives to Plastic Packaging
7 – 8 PM on Zoom
Please join Beyond Plastics for an inspiring look at some existing alternatives to single-use plastic packaging featuring reuse and refill business leaders.
Register Here
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)
Thursdays (except 4th Thursday) — Washington County GSA Game Night
5:30 – 8:30 PM at the CENTER on Strawberry
Second Friday of Every Month — Washington County GSA Free Friday Dinner
5:30 – 8:30 PM at the CENTER on Strawberry
Please RSVP at programs@wcgsa.org
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.