By Tom Schuster, Director, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter
The Pennsylvania Chapter lost another friend and colleague on Valentine’s Day. Don Miles passed away on 2/14 at the age of 75, after having chosen to end his battle with cancer on his own terms in December. His sons, Michael and Stephen, shared that he passed peacefully and was never in pain.
Don was an active member of the Sierra Club for more than 20 years, and an environmental activist for at least as long as I’ve been alive. His Sierra Club roles included Chair of the Lehigh Valley Group, co-Chair of the Chapter Executive Committee, and Chair of the Chapter’s Legal Committee. He served as our Chapter’s Delegate to the Council of Club Leaders, which represents Chapter issues to our national Board of Directors, and in that role he was an important voice in pushing the organization to oppose fracking at a time when the practice was still relatively new and some in the Club still saw fracked gas as a potential “bridge fuel” to a lower carbon future.
Image courtesy of Jim Wylie
From left to right: Jeff Smith, Dave Hemberger, Jacqline Wolf Tice, Don Miles (seated), Jim Wylie, Rick Weaver, and Matt MacConnell
An attorney by trade, Don represented many environmental and social justice causes pro bono throughout his life. He opposed the expansion of several landfills and other destructive development projects. He also represented a group called Citizens for a Healthy Jessup (CHJ) in their fight to stop the construction of Invenergy’s Lackawanna Energy Center, a massive new gas-fired power plant near Scranton. Although the plant was ultimately built, the effort had a lasting positive impact.
According to Jeff Smith, a CHJ member and current co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Chapter, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Group would not exist without Don’s efforts. That’s because his support on the power plant fight helped CHJ grow, win concessions in the plant’s permits, and ultimately elect the group’s supporters to a majority of seats on the local Borough Council. Today the organization is as strong as ever, and some of its members saw value in reviving the dormant Northeastern Group to better connect with broader Sierra Club efforts. The group has also shared the experience and evidence from its legal fight with other local groups throughout the northeast, which has contributed to proposed power plants being denied or canceled in Elizabeth Township, PA, and Burrillville, RI.
More recently, Don focused his advocacy efforts on strengthening protections for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area by upgrading its status to a National Park. He was a frequent visitor to the Water Gap, and he and his late wife Julia honeymooned there. In addition to his Sierra Club work, Don was active in the ACLU, the Boy Scouts, and as a member of the boards of his local school district and public radio station WDIY.
Image courtesy of Stephen Miles
In early January, Don’s friends and family hosted a living wake at a pub in Bethlehem. Several Sierra Club leaders attended and Jim Wylie presented him with a hand-made wooden plaque with the Sierra Club logo to commemorate his decades of service to the PA Chapter.
There will be a memorial for Don in the spring, and we will share details when they are available. The Lehigh Valley Group is planning a memorial tree, bench, and plaque installation along the Greenway Trail in Bethlehem. Anyone wishing to contribute can send a check made out to Sierra Club Lehigh Valley Group (memo: Don Miles memorial) to: Sierra Club, PO Box 126, Trexlertown, PA 18087.
This blog was included as part of the March 2024 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition.