Robert Hughes

Robert E. (Bobby) Hughes was born in the First Valley Hospital in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (PA) on June 23, 1972, during Hurricane Agnes. The hospital was out of wrath of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, which flooded much of the city. His parents were Ralph and Bertha Hughes. He attended the Grand Army of the Republic High School from seventh grade to mid-way through tenth grade when he transferred to E. L. Meyers High School and graduated in the college prep program in June 1991. Through junior and senior high schools, he actively participated in school sports, including basketball, baseball, cross country, and football.

Bobby did not serve in the military; however, his father was a U.S. Army Korean War veteran stationed in Okinawa.

He graduated from PA State University (Penn State) with a degree in Environmental Resource Management in May 1995. He attended the Wilkes-Barre Campus of Penn State for the first two years to take his core courses. He received a full academic scholarship to Penn State and was the first person in his family to graduate from college. While at Penn State he earned course credits from internships in the field of abandoned-mine reclamation in the PA Department of Environmental Resources (now the PA Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP)) enough to be able to graduate early. As part of his internships, he created a computerized abandoned mine reclamation database with over 40,000 complaint investigations. This invaluable database was the first comprehensive, computerized database developed in the region. This work required extensive travel and coordination with local officials, retired miners, and mining engineers throughout the anthracite region to inventory and document the abandoned-mine facilities. The database has evolved into the Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (AMLIS). In addition, he completed numerous training courses for professionals and earned certifications.

Bobby grew up in the O’Karma Terrace, a low-income housing project in the Heights Section of Wilkes-Barre from early childhood through high school. Throughout his childhood with his friends, he ventured into the abandoned anthracite coal mine complexes surrounding the city, along the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, and around the Wyoming Valley. The complexes largely sat idle resulting from the major downturn after World War II in the hard coal industry in the anthracite region and following the Hurricane Agnes Flood of 1972. They explored and played in the idle coal processing structures, acid mine drainage-laden waterbodies, coal refuse disposal areas, and coal mine shaft and pits. From these and other local experiences he gained a first-hand knowledge of the environmental, social, and economic ravages of the coal industry. Over decades, the anthracite mining industry grew, peaked, and declined, leaving an overwhelming legacy of severe: joblessness; housing, commercial, and industrial area blight; crime levels; social-economic problems; and a host public safety and environmental problems throughout the Northeast PA Region.

His childhood experiences, his degree in Environmental Resource Management, his internships and training courses provided the foundation for his sharp focus and life-long commitment to abandoned-mine reclamation in Northeastern and Northcentral PA. He often says that “he hiked nearly every stream mile in Wyoming Valley, once in his childhood to explore nature out of curiosity, and then once more as an adult, to restore, heal, reclaim, and redevelop the coal legacy landscapes. He adds that he feels an obligation to become its environmental steward and protector.”

Before becoming Executive Director of the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) in June 2009, Bobby held the following positions in the abandoned-mine reclamation field in Northeastern and Eastern PA:

May 1993 to August 1993-Science/Technical Intern-PADEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
March 1993 to June 1993-Activities and Volunteer Program Assistant-PA Environmental Council
May 1994 to April 1995-Hydrogeological Intern-PADEP Hawk Run District Mining Office
August 1995 to May 1997-EPCAMR Project Manager and Assistant Director-PA Environmental Council Northeast Regional Office
May 1997 to December 2000-EPCAMR Regional Coordinator-Schuylkill County Conservation District
January 2001 to June 2009-EPCAMR Program Manager and Regional Coordinator-Luzerne County Conservation District

Bobby has served as the EPCAMR Executive Director since June 2009. In that position, he strives hard for and built EPCAMR into a driving force advocating for and leading the acquisition and spending hundreds of millions of state and federal dollars for remediation in the anthracite and Northcentral bituminous coal regions. Building EPCAMR involved: creating a strong and readily-available technical knowledge base; gaining credibility and trust in the coal industry and the host of government entities in the region; promoting and guiding research and development of state-of-the-art remediation technologies; educating youth, remediation consultants, contractors, and government officials; networking and partnering with other environmental organizations, municipal officials, state and federal agencies; establishing and implementing environmental monitoring programs to measure and document the effectiveness of remediation projects; preparing and submitting grant applications and advocating for funding; and celebrating and rewarding successes.

Among his primary duties and responsibilities as EPCAMR Executive Director are:

Coordinating and managing water pollution and abandoned-mine land reclamation and watershed restoration projects throughout a sixteen (16) county service area of Northeast and Northcentral PA
Developing the first 3D modeling of the anthracite coal region underground mine pools and a strategy for abandoned-mine reclamation
Providing outdoor environmental education programs and experiences to underserved public school students with the EPCAMR Program Manager, Michel Hewitt
Developing and implementing an iron oxide recovery program for abandoned-mine treatment systems for the interconnected disciplines Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educational program and for after school programs
Co-authoring the 2012 Technical Report, “Mine Water Resources of the Anthracite Coal Fields of Eastern PA
Assisting the Susquehanna River Basin Commission in the development of the 2009 Technical Report, “Anthracite Region Mine Drainage Remediation Strategy and implementing the strategy

All through his long career as an environmental professional he has been actively engaged in the activities of over seventy (70) community organizations in a broad range of focus areas at the local, regional, state, and national levels. Some examples of the organizations and their focus areas are:

Clean water advocacy groups
Free and Accepted Masons
Township, city, borough, and county community improvement groups
Youth and adult conservation education groups
Coaching youth sports groups
Philanthropy groups

As a believer in continuous learning and education, has benefited from over seventy-five (75) training courses in wide variety of subject areas. Some examples of the training subject areas are:

Water resource monitoring and remediation design, construction and maintenance
Watershed and storm water management
GIS and database management
Environmental and property law
Aviation, highway, and rail facility management
Public and motivational speaking
Leadership
Fund raising and lobbying
Weather and climate
Fish and wildlife ecology
Soils, geology, and hydrogeology
Drones
Cultural resources

He is well-known and highly respected in the public sector and private sector coal mine reclamation industry throughout Northeast PA, PA, the Northeast U.S., nationally, and internationally. His national involvement was through active participation in the National Association of Mine Land Programs (NAAMLP) and the National Association of State Land Reclamationists (NASLR). His international involvement was through active participation in the International Mine Water Association.

Bobby’s efforts have not gone unnoticed, and he has received recognition in numerous forms from over fifty (50) community, academic, government, and profession organizations.

Bobby credits his reputation for getting things done to: his community organizing skills; his passion for ensuring underserved coalfield communities have a strong voice; he strongly encourages communities to take pride in their legacy and efforts to improve their environment; his impartial, passionate, and can-do positive attitude; his long track record of finding innovative and affordable approaches to remediation; his strong outreach and education program development and deployment; his lasting friendships; and his commitment to “never say no or it can’t be done.” He insists that there are always ways around obstacles. He strongly believes in inspiring kids and future generations to improve and take pride in their surroundings. He grew up overcoming obstacles and seeing them with a positive attitude as challenges and opportunities, not as impediments or barriers.

Bobby with 5th grade students from Heights Elementary after a macroinvertebrate

identification session at Frances Slocum State Park

Also, he gives huge credit to the hard work of his small staff who often work behind the scenes and who are critical to EPCAMR success for over 30 years. They always consistently provide professional and high-quality services such as organizing and conducting events and conferences and managing grants.

Bobby greatly appreciates the many mentors and colleagues who have greatly influenced and enabled his professional and personal development. Among them are:

Russ Johnson, Director-Pennsylvania Environmental Council Northeast Region Office
Mario Carello, Compliance Specialist-PADEP Hawk Run Mining Office
Gary Greenfield-PADEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR)
Kim Snyder-Supervisor-PADEP BAMR
Sue Ghoweri-PADEP BAMR
Mike Ferko-District Mining Engineer-PADEP BAMR
Craig Morgan-District Manager for the Schuylkill County Conservation District
Ed Wytovich, First EPCAMR President
Bernie McGurl, Former Exécutive Director-Lackwanna River Conservation Association and Past EPCAMR President
Joe Simons, Current EPCAMR Président
John R. Dawes lll, Founder and Former Executive Director-Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
Louise Dunlap, Attorney-Dunlap and Browder Associates
Marianne Krasny-Cornell University
Elizabeth Stevens-Elder in the O’Karma Terrace-In His Youth Taught Bobby About Fossils, Anthracite Coal Mining, History and Industry
Mark Killar-Former Regional Coordinator for Western PA Abandoned Mine Reclamation (WPCAMR)

Bobby is married to Tara. They were married in 1993 after dating from the ages of 13 and 15 years, while in Junior High School. They have three (3) children and two (2) grandchildren. His family has been fully supportive and taken great pride in his profession and interests. They have been at his side while he was participating in and/or conducting cleanups, stream surveys, water testing, educational workshops, abandoned-mine drainage tie dye events, hikes, and tours throughout PA. He has always strived and been dedicated to being an effective role model. Although Bobby has been widely recognized for his decades of abandoned mine land work, he gets great pleasure when he and his family witness underserved coal mine communities realize positive changes in the abandoned mine landscapes where they live, work, and play.

Bobby has traveled to the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Also, he has been to Niagara Falls for his honeymoon with Tara and as a presenter of North American Association of Environmental Educators (NAAEE) conference in Ottawa, Canada. On numerous occasions, he traveled to Washington, DC to meet with federal government and legislators and abandoned-mine reclamation program advocacy groups. He has frequently spoken before U.S. House of Representative committees addressing abandoned-mine reclamation matters.

Bobby’s hobbies are hiking; nature photography; spending time with his wife; children and grandchildren; fly fishing and tying flies; reading nature books; sacred geometry; going to cosplay and anime conventions and festivals; drawing; and attending cryptid and alien festivals with his youngest son.

Prepared by Wayne Kober and Robert Hughes from Answers to Interview Questions and Telephone Interviews and Reviews and Edits of Draft Conservation Stories from July 21 to August 17, 2026