Mission and Purpose:

The Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable serves mine scarred Appalachian watersheds through training, capacity building and providing a collective voice for underserved communities seeking to restore the well being of their citizens and environment.

This includes...

* Educating and communicating with decision makers
* Encouraging collaboration and information sharing among watershed groups
* Disseminating information about relevant funding opportunities
* Providing resources to help watershed groups write successful funding proposals.

Background:

The Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable serves as a helping hand to those grassroots watershed groups that strive to solve environmental problems in Appalachian Coal Country.

The Roundtable represents watershed organizations in nine Coal Country states: Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Among the primary environmental issues affecting Coal Country citizens are: Abandoned Mine Lands, acid mine drainage, sewage/straight pipes, and other remnants of pre-regulatory coal mining.

In September 1999, a day before the national Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) conference in Roanoke, VA, several watershed groups and state and federal agency staff gathered to discuss creating an Appalachian Watershed Roundtable. This coalition would serve as a formal roundtable participant in the Clean Water Action Plan.

Participants agreed to meet in the spring for a discussion forum in Shepardstown, West Virginia. The forum gathered feedback from public and legislative agencies on the successes and barriers facing grassroots groups. Out of this forum developed the Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable.

The Roundtable serves as a clearinghouse for all stakeholders—encouraging collaboration and information-sharing among watershed organizations, agencies, and businesses. The Roundtable accomplishes this through helping to organize trainings and roundtable discussions, maintaining its online collection of resources tailored to Coal Country needs, and producing the e-newsletter, Creek Clips. The Roundtable focuses on helping groups share success stories with each other, helping groups find funding opportunities relevant to small Appalachian watershed groups, and helping groups understand legislation and issues on a federal and state level.

The initial development of the Roundtable was supported by small grants from both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM).

Now, the Roundtable is launching Hope and Hard Work: Building Capacity in Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Groups. This project will provide training and support for at least 50 grassroots watershed groups representing approximately 2.5 million citizens from eight states and three EPA Regions.

Goals and Accomplishments:

* Held the first Eastern Coalfield Resident Training in Washington D.C. on September 12, 2005. This conference brought together grassroots activists from eight Appalachian Coalfield states to learn about the Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fund and to meet and discuss issues with the director of Office of Surface Mining and West Virginia senators.

* Facilitated broad representation of eastern coalfields states at the American Rivers’ Lobby Day in Washington D.C. in 2005 and 2006.

* Built a mailing list of more than 1,000 members consisting of watershed organizations, Resource Conservation and Development Councils, and Agency Contacts.

* Created the regional e-newsletter Creek Clips with Issues, Support, and Celebration sections.

* Produced the AML Toolkit—a plain-language explanation of the history and importance of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

* Matched approximately 30 watershed groups in need with computers, cameras, and printers donated by state OSM offices.

* Formed a coalition of state environmental groups, private partners, and agency representatives to apply for and receive an Environmental Protection Agency Targeted Watershed Grant for Capacity Building. This two year initiative will allow the Roundtable to address acid mine drainage, straight pipes, and fiscal sustainability for Coal Country watershed groups. This project is significant because of its hands-on approach to training and supporting watershed groups. At the same time, it allows the Roundtable to bring to the table Coal Country environmental groups, businesses, universities, and state agencies as well as national organizations and federal agencies. Participants will work together to find solutions to watershed restoration in Appalachian Coal Country.

Partners and Contributors:

* Friends of Cheat
* Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation
* Rural Appalachian Improvement League
* Lonesome Pine SWD
* Monday Creek Restoration Project
* Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation
* Huff Run Watershed Restoration Partnership
* Upper Guyandotte Watershed Association
* Patagonia
* Grassroots Exchange Fund
* Environmental Support Center
* Environmental Protection Agency
* Office of Surface Mining
* Americorps VISTA