Scope and Content Notes

Minutes from regular meetings, executive board meetings, and special meetings are filed together. Regular meetings were held on the second Monday of each month, Executive Board meetings were held weekly, and special meetings were called when situations arose that needed immediate attention from the members of the group. Minutes are arranged chronologically by year. Hand-written notes from some meetings and some financial reports are also found in this series.

Scope and Content Notes

The bulk of this series comes from files which were kept in the CRY office. All of the main concerns of the organization are represented in this series, often under more than one heading. It also contains incomplete samples of financial records (mostly accounting ledgers), and information about CRY's status as a charitable organization, including the strategies they used for fundraising. There are records of specific activities and protests organized to raise public awareness, and many files containing writings of individual members, filed under their surnames. Other contents include research files on subjects relevant to the group's mission, administrative and operational records, and information about other environmental activist organizations, including the Pennsylvania Environmental Network and the Citizens' Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes. The files dealing with legislative acts do not contain copies of the acts themselves.

Scope and Content Notes

The possibility of compensation for the residents of Yukon for health damages rested mainly on the results of a DER-commissioned health study of South Huntingdon Township, in which Yukon is located. This study was conducted from 1986 to 1988. Several other tests and surveys were conducted around the Yukon area in order to determine the extent of pollution coming from the dump site and the effects of the pollution on the health of residents. Some were conducted by the DER and some were commissioned by CRY from independent contractors in hopes that the results would provide more conclusive evidence to support the group's claims in court. Additional documentation of other environmental tests can be found in series IV.

Scope and Content Notes

Many of the records in this series specifically relate to permits granted to Mill Service by the Department of Environmental Resources (DER), and the monitoring of their procedures and operations in order to detect pollution and safety hazards. Mill Service's Yukon facility and a separate facility in Bulger, Pa. were repeatedly found to be in violation of permit terms over their years of operation. In 1985, the DER issued Consent Orders for the two facilities, which allowed their continued operations, providing proof of Mill Service's on-going actions to redress past and current environmental pollution. A copy of this consent order can be found in Series VI (Litigation). Much of the series also documents the plan, proposed by Mill Service, Inc. in 1985, to close one of the waste lagoons, Impoundment No. 5, and the creation in 1987 of a new lagoon, Impoundment No. 6, by a combination of strip mining and blasting.

Scope and Content Notes

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is the government agency responsible for regulating the operations of businesses that have an impact on the environment. They maintain a website at: http://www.dep.state.pa.us. The DEP has the authority to issue, suspend, and revoke permits for storage and treatment of various kinds of wastes and for other related operations. In this role and as the host of the Environmental Hearing Board until 1988, the formerly named Department of Environmental Resources was the main agency that CRY dealt with in its mission to close down Mill Service's waste storage site in Yukon. The Department changed its name to the Department of Environmental Protection in 1995. These files hold correspondence between DER officials, Mill Service personnel, CRY members, and others; records of public meetings held between DER and CRY; and information on various operations conducted by the DER. It overlaps Series IV somewhat in its scope.

Scope and Content Notes

These records document CRY's legal challenges to Mill Service, Inc.'s waste disposal operations in southwest Pennsylvania from 1986 through 1994. One of the main cases was first brought to the Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a distinct judicial arm of the DER (now DEP), by CRY and Westmoreland County to challenge the legitimacy of permits granted by the DER to Mill Service for waste disposal, construction, and mining. Another main case represented was brought by Yukon residents petitioning for relief or compensation from Mill Service for deleterious effects to health and property values (multiple complaints were soon consolidated). Suits were also filed by Mill Service and the DER against CRY and its members in response to disruptive demonstrations staged near Mill Service and DER properties. Though CRY's challenges to Mill Service's permits resulted in periods of temporary suspension for the company, the allegations of unlawful conduct were never resolved in CRY's favor, and a protracted series of appeals was finally abandoned in 1994 when CRY's finances did not allow for counsel. The DER ultimately approved all Mill Service operations based on the Consent Order and amendments.

Appeals of EHB decisions are heard in Pa. Commonwealth Court. Challenges and petitions for relief were heard variously in the Courts of Common Pleas of Westmoreland and Allegheny Counties, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Not all actions were pursued to definitive decision; several were dismissed or dropped after relatively short periods of time. Legal briefs, complaints, motions and appeals are arranged chronologically and secondarily by docket or case number. In instances of transfer between courts, or consolidation, several different case or docket numbers may be assigned to a single general legal action. There is also a section of legal correspondence, mostly to and from CRY's attorneys: Gail Phelps until 1988, Robert J. Ging from 1988 to 1994.

Scope and Content Notes

Media coverage of the group and its activities served to publicize CRY's mission, and was a primary factor in the group's effectiveness. The group put out news releases and kept copies of them, along with clippings and copies of articles and cartoons published in Western Pennsylvania regional newspapers, and local and national magazines. These clippings represent public perceptions of CRY and Mill Service, Inc., and chronicle key activities and events, including public protests, citizen actions, the process of legal petitions, and town meetings, as well as developments at Mill Service's Yukon site, from CRY's inception in 1985 through 2001. Other topics covered by the articles include a government investigation and reorganization of the State of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Resources (DER), and contemporary citizens' groups and legal actions aimed at environmental protection and clean-up nation-wide. The articles focus on environmental issues in the Appalachian region, notably the Youghiogheny River and Sewickley Creek watersheds. Files are arranged chronologically by year.

Scope and Content Notes

CRY wrote to many politicians to raise awareness of their situation and garner support for their mission. They specifically sought to form relationships with state legislators, and State Representative James J. Manderino became one of their dedicated allies. He and his executive assistant Herman Mihalich (later a Representative himself) kept files pertaining to their dealings with and on behalf of CRY, and these are arranged alphabetically and later by subject. The photographs of the Mill Service site in the first part are generally in poor condition and with little identification.

Scope and Content Notes

Medical records consist of laboratory and physician's reports, patient histories, signed doctor and patient statements, and correspondence concerning residents of Yukon, Pa., and surrounding areas, who believed they were suffering negative health consequences of exposure to pollutants. Reports deal with toxicology and tissue analysis, and the treatment of respiratory ailments, hepatitis, anemia, and cancers. Correspondence largely deals with patient and attorney requests for records, and patient and physician forms of consent, which qualified the reports for use as evidence in CRY's court proceedings. Copies of medical files were submitted to CRY attorney Robert Ging, Esq.

In order to protect the privacy of individuals involved, and in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), these records are restricted and closed to researchers until further notice.

Scope and Content Notes

Homemade, hand-lettered signs and posters were used by CRY in protests and other activities. These include some montages of photographs taken by group members.

Scope and Content Notes

Most of these are damaged and need to be repaired before they can be viewed. Many of them are labeled as documenting group activities or as copies of television programs.