projects, and we have been over them many times. I guess Senator Neely and I, and Senator Kilgore also———— Senator KILGORE. I have seen some of them built. Senator MARTIN. I was there before any of them were built. Senator KNOWLAND. I will say that the senior Senator from Arizona, who is the ranking man on our full committee, as well as the most valued member of this committee, and I have also sat through previous hearings on these projects. I think we are generally familiar with the problems and what you are attempting to achieve there. So it is not entirely new ground to us. Senator MARTIN. I think the two projects could probably be worked together with some of the witnesses. Mr. Mathews, will you call the witnesses? Senator KNOWLAND. You go ahead and call the witnesses in the order you would like them to appear. STATEMENT OF DAVID MATHEWS, JR., EXECUTIVE VICE GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. MATHEWS. My name is David Mathews, Jr., executive vice president of the Pittsburgh Coal Exchange which was organized in 1870 and consists of the leading steel corporations, coal companies, barge lines and allied industries in the Pittsburgh district. The names of our member companies are listed on the letterhead attached to our statement. Our members are responsible for about 50 million tons of shipping each year on the Ohio-Monongahela Rivers in the Pittsburgh district. We consider New Cumberland Dam on the Ohio River which will replace existing locks 7, 8, and 9, to be the most important public works project in the Nation. If not one other cent were to be spent on public works this year, we would consider that money should be appropriated for New Cumberland Dam because of the importance to the national economy of the tonnage which goes through these locks, and its importance to the national defense. The existing dams were built at the turn of the century. They are completely worn out. They are inadequate for modern transportation methods. Last year we moved 60 million tons on the Ohio River, 15 million tons of which went through locks 7, 8, and 9. The most critical lock is lock 7, which is rapidly deteriorating. The land wall is collapsing due to the pressure of a hill along the left bank of the Ohio River at the dam site. The wall has visibly moved and is in deplorable condition. We were so concerned about this particular lock wall that I went to the district engineer in Pittsburgh, I went to the division engineer in Cincinnati, and I went to the office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, D. C. None of them could assure me that lock 7 will not fail within the 5-year period which will be required to build New Cumberland locks and dam. IMPORTANCE OF LOCKS If this wall fails, it means that transportation on the river will stop entirely until it is repaired, which may be a matter of months or perhaps even as much as a year. That would certainly disrupt the entire economy in the Ohio Valley, especially in the steel industry in Pittsburgh. Fifteen million tons would require about 300,000 loaded freight cars of coal. It would be absolutely impossible to move that amount of coal by rail into the mills. There are not the rail facilities either at the mills or at the mines. It would mean unemployment. It would mean stopping production. Right in the vicinity of these locks are Crucible Steel Corp., which is right at lock 7, with about 8,000 men employed there. Senator MARTIN. Might I ask you, Mr. Mathews, as I understand, if this lock would go out, you could not use the river transportation, even if you had the rail equipment there would not be enough railroad tracks even to handle it, even if you could get the railroad equipment? Mr. MATHEWS. That is right. There just aren't that many railroad cars to start with. Senator KILGORE. Isn't it a fact that along these rivers there, the banks are what is known as sliding banks and will not stand your heavy trains that can be used in other sections? Mr. MATHEWS. That is right, absolutely right. We have had sliding banks to contend with on both the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. The heavy concentration on the Ohio through these locks means that 25 percent of the 60 million tons that moved down the river went through 7, 8, and 9. The upstream tonnage is just as heavy as the downstream tonnage. Senator KNOWLAND. Senator Burke, won't you join us at the committee table here? Senator BURKE. Thank you, Senator. RECIPROCITY OF TRADE Mr. MATHEWS. We have a very fine reciprocity of trade between Pittsburgh and the southeastern ports. Steel goes south from Pittsburgh in the form of sheets and some finished products come back to Pittsburgh in the form of machinery, in the form of refrigerators, stoves, et cetera. In addition to that, we are bringing sulfur and a tremendous amount of gasoline. It is surprising, Senator, but today petroleum products exceed coal on the Ohio River. I remember during World War II it was necessary to bring that tonnage up through the inland waterways because of the submarine menace. We have not lost that tonnage, we have retained it and it has doubled since World War II. I don't want to take up too much of your time, Senators. I have some exhibits attached to my statement which show the industrial expansion in the last year, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Tennessee, in the States served by barge from Pittsburgh. There are so many billions of dollars that it staggers your imagination. There is a billion and a half being spent in western Pennsylvania, over a billion in Ohio, $185 million in West Virginia. There are a number of new plants that we don't know what the cost is going to be on. This is construction only. It means employment, it means that we can get back on an economy which will keep full employment in the area. PEACETIME EMPLOYMENT Senator MARTIN. You mean peacetime employment? Mr. MATHEWS. That is right, sir. We know that you cannot have a wartime economy forever. I would like to make a few remarks about Hildebrand Dam on the Monongahela River, another project which we consider vital. Hildebrand Dam would replace locks 12 and 13 on the upper Monongahela between Morgantown and Fairmont, W. Va. We are very much interested in that area because metallurgical coal in the captive mines around Pittsburgh is largely exhausted and we have had to go into the upper regions to bring coal to the steel mills. We consume about 40 million tons a year, in the lower Monongahela Valley, of metallurgical coal. The reason I am stressing bringing it in by barge is that all of the steel mills along the Monongahela River are so set up that their entire operation depends upon barge service. There are no rail facilities to handle it. There is a single track railroad on each side of the Monongahela River above Morgantown, between Morgantown and Fairmont. It would be absolutely impossible. Senator MARTIN. It would be impossible to make additional tracks? Mr. MATHEWS. That is right. Senator MARTIN. And that is because of the physical conditions of the river. The river bank comes right down to it. Mr. MATHEWs. The mountains come right down to the water, practically, Senator, and there isn't room to put additional facilities in there. Even during World War II, when employment was at its peak, the mines in the Morgantown-Fairmont area were only working 2 or 3 days a week because rail cars were not available. The lower Monongahela River is a 9-foot project. Above Morgantown there are only 7 feet of water in the river, and the locks are so small that we can only put 2 barges in. Our barge operations are based on a 6-boat tow and a towboat. We can only get 2 barges in, and we can only load time 50 percent, which means that it costs about twice as much money to bring that coal down to the mills as it would were they to have a 9-foot project depth in the upper river. MORGANTOWN LOCK AND DAM Congress was wise enough to appropriate money to construct a new lock and dam at Morgantown. It is a very fine structure. It is a wonderful thing. But there are 25 miles in the pools above there from which we must get our coal, and we still have to use half-loaded barges and small boats to come down into this beautiful new lock. One navigation dam would open up that entire field in which there are more than 3 billion tons of metallurgical coal which is badly needed in the lower river. Senator CORDON. Did you say million or billion? Mr. MATHEWS. Billion, and it is on the river where it can be moved economically. Senator KILGORE. To clear up the record, there is metallurgical coal and there is coal. Mr. MATHEWs. Yes, sir. Senator KILGORE. The question is getting the metallurgical coal which can be used by the steel industry. The other coal is not adaptable for use by the steel industry; is that correct? PREPARED STATEMENTS Mr. MATHEWS. That is correct. But there is a market for it in the powerplants. Senator Knowland, I have two statements, one on New Cumberland and one on Hildebrand, from Pittsburgh Consolidated Coal. May they go in at this point? Senator KNOWLAND. Yes. (The statements referred to follow :) RIVER DIVISION, PITTSBURGH CONSOLIDATION COAL CO., Hon. WILLIAM KNOWLAND, Chairman, Subcommittee on Civil Functions, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We wish to express our unqualified support of the proposal to replace present locks and dams Nos. 7, 8, and 9 on the Ohio River with one new lock and dam to be known as the New Cumberland lock and dam. The condition of the 3 existing structures is so bad that failure of any 1 of them is an ever-present possibility. Failure of any one of them would be a catastrophe. The large steel and power plants on the Ohio River downstream from these dams would be cut off from their major source of coal supply. Considerable coal tonnage also moves upstream from the Huntington, W. Va., district to steel plants in the Pittsburgh, Pa., district. An immense volume of gasoline and oil also is transported by river upstream through these locks to the Pittsburgh area. Tonnage passing through lock No. 7 in 1952 was 12 million tons, which is 60 percent more than passed through this lock in 1944. Every indication points to an increase over this figure in the near future. It is obvious that failure of any one of these facilities would create a chaotic condition in the procurement by industry of the vital supplies now transported through these locks. The fear of failure of these facilities is the principal factor influencing this company in stressing the urgency for replacing the existing facilities with the proposed new lock and dam. For this reason we respectfully urge that Congress appropriate the necessary funds to begin immediately the construction of the New Cumberland lock and dam on the Ohio River. Very truly yours, PITTSBURGH CONSOLIDATION COAL CO., River Transportation Manager. RIVER DIVISION, PITTSBURGH CONSOLIDATION COAL CO., Hon. WILLIAM KNOWLAND, Chairman, Subcommittee on Civil Functions, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We wish to respectfully urge you and your committee to take favorable action on the request for the appropriation to begin construction of a lock and dam on the upper Monongahela River in West Virginia to be known as the Hildebrand lock and dam. This cannot be considered a new project. Its construction is required to replace two more of the antiquated, inefficient, and inadequate locks and dams, now over 50 years old and still in use. The present dams do not provide the 9-foot channel necessary to load barges to their full capacity. Barges can now be loaded only to about two-thirds of their capacity, thereby making transportation costs approximately 50 percent higher than in the lower reaches of the Monongahela River and other inland rivers. Hildebrand would extend the 9-foot channel and make available cheap transportation for the enormous coal tonnage remaining in the area this section of the river would serve. We wish to express our support of this proposal and request your favorable consideration of it. Very truly yours, PITTSBURGH CONSOLIDATION COAL CO., PEACETIME EMPLOYMENT Senator MARTIN. You mean peacetime employment? Mr. MATHEWS. That is right, sir. We know that you cannot have a wartime economy forever. I would like to make a few remarks about Hildebrand Dam on the Monongahela River, another project which we consider vital. Hildebrand Dam would replace locks 12 and 13 on the upper Monongahela between Morgantown and Fairmont, W. Va. We are very much interested in that area because metallurgica! coal in the captive mines around Pittsburgh is largely exhausted and we have had to go into the upper regions to bring coal to the steel mills. We consume about 40 million tons a year, in the lower Monongahela Valley, of metallurgical coal. The reason I am stressing bringing it in by barge is that all of the steel mills along the Monongahela River are so set up that their entire operation depends upon barge service. There are no rail facilities to handle it. There is a single track railroad on each side of the Monongahela River above Morgantown, between Morgantown and Fairmont. It would be absolutely impossible. Senator MARTIN. It would be impossible to make additional tracks? Mr. MATHEWS. That is right. Senator MARTIN. And that is because of the physical conditions of the river. The river bank comes right down to it. Mr. MATHEWS. The mountains come right down to the water, praetically, Senator, and there isn't room to put additional facilities in there. Even during World War II, when employment was at its peak, the mines in the Morgantown-Fairmont area were only working 2 or 3 days a week because rail cars were not available. The lower Monongahela River is a 9-foot project. Above Morgantown there are only 7 feet of water in the river, and the locks are so small that we can only put 2 barges in. Our barge operations are based on a 6-boat tow and a towboat. We can only get 2 barges in, and we can only load time 50 percent, which means that it costs about twice as much money to bring that coal down to the mills as it would were they to have a 9-foot project depth in the upper river. MORGANTOWN LOCK AND DAM Congress was wise enough to appropriate money to construct a new lock and dam at Morgantown. It is a very fine structure. It is a wonderful thing. But there are 25 miles in the pools above there from which we must get our coal, and we still have to use half-loaded barges and small boats to come down into this beautiful new lock. One navigation dam would open up that entire field in which there are more than 3 billion tons of metallurgical coal which is badly needed in the lower river. Senator CORDON. Did you say million or billion? Mr. MATHEWs. Billion, and it is on the river where it can be moved economically. Senator KILGORE. To clear up the record, there is metallurgical coal and there is coal. Mr. MATHEWs. Yes, sir. Senator KILGORE. The question is getting the metallurgical coal which can be used by the steel industry. The other coal is not adaptable for use by the steel industry; is that correct? |