Senator NEELY. That is absolutely correct.

Senator SPARKMAN. What kind of rail-transportation do you have into that section?

Mr. PRICE. There are railroads on either side of the river. During the war they were unable to take care of the traffic that was necessary, and because of the car shortage, there was a considerable bottleneck in that area and they could not move coal available in that area.

Senator SPARKMAN. I am not asking you to comment on this or to make any statement at all, but the thought naturally arises in my mind, now, tomorrow we are going to have a hearing on the Big Sandy over in Kentucky, and West Virginia, I believe, and someone stated before our committee a couple of days ago with reference to it that the coal industry, the coal-mining people of West Virginia and Virginia were all and would be all opposed to the Big Sandy development.

I am just wondering if there is any inconsistency in the advocacy of this project in order to get cheap water transportation for coal and, at the same time, opposition to the Big Sandy, which is claimed by its advocates for the same purposes.

I am not asking you to comment on it, Dr. Price; I am just dropping that thought.

Senator NEELY. Mr. Chairman, may I answer that off the record? Senator SPARKMAN. Yes.

(Discussion off the record.)

Senator SPARKMAN. By the way, Senator Myers and Senator Martin sent word up here that they would not be able to be here, and I have statements of both Senator Myers and Senator Martin which will be included in the record at this point.

(The documents above referred to follow:)

STATEMENT BY UNITED STATES SENATOR FRANCIS J. MYERS, OF PENNSYLVANIA

The work contemplated under this proposal would be done in the State of West Virginia. A tremendous share of the benefits from this work, however, will accrue to Pennsylvania and to Pennsylvania industry and because of the nature of the industries which would be benefited-to the entire Nation and particularly to our defense effort.

I shall not take your time to go into the details of the navigation improvement, the deepening of channels and the replacement of obsolescent locks because I know that you know the whole story and that you will have not only the engineers but spokesmen for various business interests before you tomorrow to go into the specifics of the work.

The main thing to remember about these proposed improvements on the Monongahela River is that they fortify the ability of the steel industry to produce at the simply astounding rates which this industry achieved during the war and thereafter. High-quality coals of the kind which can be used in steel production will be made available for our Pennsylvania steel mills and for those down the Ohio River in great abundance if this project is approved.

A number of the major coal companies and steel producers have been in touch with me urging my support for this work. I have informed them that although the Senators from West Virginia are taking the primary responsibility for pushing it through, I would join them as vigorously as I could in endorsing this effort.

Last year and again this year, I appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee in behalf of funds for reconstruction work now under way on the Monongahela River, both at Braddock, Pa. and at Morgantown, W. Va. In both instances I made rather complete statements on the merits of the work in West Virginia which members of this committee sitting in with the Appropriations Subcommittee in an ex officio capacity may have heard me make.

Those statements which I made in behalf of the lock No. 10 replacement work at Morgantown apply with equal force to the proposed new program providing for replacement of locks 12 to 15, inclusive, and widening and deepening the channels between existing dam No. 8, and mile 2.1 of the Tygart River.

The total first cost of this project as of September 1948 of an estimated $30,000,000 or so may sound like a terrific amount of money-which of course it is. However, in relation to the economic benefits to be derived by our basic industries and by the tri-State area directly involved, which constitutes one of the greatest industrial centers of the Nation, the proposed expenditure is thoroughly justified and vitally necessary.

STATEMENT BY SENATOR EDWARD MARTIN

It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of the Monongahela River in the economic life of the Nation.

For many years the Monongahela has carried a volume of tonnage exceeding that of the Panama Canal and greater than that of the famous Suez Canal.

Ninety percent of the traffic on that busy river is coal and coke for the steelproduction empire of the Pittsburgh district, the greatest steel center of the world. The enlargement of navigation facilities on the Monongahela River will provide far-reaching benefits, not for the Pittsburgh district alone, but for the whole country.

It will open for development vast coal fields in northern West Virginia, the last big reserve of metallurgical coal, which is becoming scarce.

It has been estimated that the fields which would be opened for development by this project have more than 1,600,000,000 tons of coal in the ground. This is a reserve sufficient to insure Pittsburgh's supply for many decades to come.

More coal, faster and cheaper, is the lifeblood of steel production. It means prosperity for Pittsburgh and the Nation.

Furthermore, the upper Monongahela project is most important as a vital factor in national defense. In the event of another war emergency it will assure this country of a continuous supply of metallurgical coal to support and expand the Nation's steel-productive capacity.

While coal is the most important cargo in the Monongahela's tremendous traffic it is by no means the only one. Coke, fluorspar, iron and steel, petroleum products, sand, gravel, and sulfur are carried in great quantities to and from its shore-line plants.

The Monongahela has been a vital American waterway since the earliest days of our Republic.

I respectfully submit that favorable consideration of the project now before this committee would be an essential step in the further development of its usefulness in the national economy.

Mr. PRICE. I want to make a statement that this river has shown that it was an important means of transportation over 50 years ago when locks and dams were built, and they have become so antiquated that they will not carry the transportation now.

Senator SPARKMAN. This is an extension of an already existing project?

Mr. PRICE. Bringing it up to modern technology.

Senator SPARKMAN. Thank you very much, Dr. Price.

Who is next, Senator Neely?

Senator NEELY. The distinguished senior Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Kilgore.

STATEMENT OF HON. HARLEY M. KILGORE, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

Senator Kilgore. Mr. Chairman, I want to say something off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

Senator KILGORE. On the record, Mr. Chairman: My colleague, Senator Neely, of course, lives on the Monongahela River. I spent my youth up in that area and know a good bit about it, too.

During the war the railroad system serving it-the principal railroad system serving it is, of course, the Baltimore & Ohio, the Monon

gahela Valley is another, and the Western Maryland is another, but they all rely on the Baltimore & Ohio for their car service.

As a result, for instance last year, when we were trying our best to get coal for Europe, we were only able to work those mines up there 3 days a week, despite the fact that the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Norfolk & Western and one other southern railroad loaned the B. & O. 10,000 gondolas to augment their supplies, but still they could not meet their demands that were being made to meet their shipment to Europe, that being a good point to ship it into Baltimore.

It was impossible for the coal trade to keep an adequate supply of cars to take care of the situations that arise.

You cannot canalize the river after the war starts; you have got to canalize it before, so from the national defense viewpoint, the canalization of this river is of immense importance.

There is another feature in there which I hope Dr. Price will touch on. He talked about the salt-brine deposit. Now, West Virginia is in a very peculiar situation. We have three main rivers: the Kanawha, the Ohio, and the Monongahela. It so happens that those basins in each case are underlain either with rock crystal salt or with salt brine of strong density. That has accounted for the building up of the chemical industries in those valleys, the presence of limestone, of coal, and of salt brine that cause the plants to go in.

Now, the Kanawha River is exploited to its utmost extent now of its salt brine because of the lack of coolant; water is kept warm in the river all the time by cooling the plants.

The Ohio is being developed, and we have our biggest coal chemical plant, United States Ordnance, at Morgantown, right near this lock, which produces not chlorine, but methanol and ammonia, which is vital to us in time of war; particularly will it be vital when the gas supply in the Southwest dwindles off, as it will in 10 years' time. For that reason, it is highly important.

Then, with the steel industry, with its center at Pittsburgh it gets its coal out of this field. They were able to exploit the coal in southern Pennsylvania and get it into Pittsburgh by water because the channels were deeper, but the upper river, although it was locked, you had to use smaller barges and lighter towboats, and now that you can get it, get it so that you can run clear through, you are able to eat into that and get rid of the part-time employment from which these fields suffer, and at the same time keep the steel industry supplied with coal in adequate quantity. Coal and coke in those fields are a big unexplored resource. So, for that reason, from a national picture, leaving West Virginia out of the picture, from the national picture the canalization of that river is valuable to us in our daily industrial life because of its effect upon the steel industry.

It is also extremely valuable to us in time of war, and there is one other thing that could be taken into account.

I made a survey of the fuel situation in the early part of the last war, and we discovered that we could have augmented the supply of fuel oil and of aviation gasoline tremendously on the east coast had we been able to navigate clear up to the headwaters of these streams, as is proposed now, with large-sized barges, good-sized oil barges; because, for instance, there are tank farms at Morgantown, and there are tank farms right near Fairmont, and those tank farms have tanks which hold 50,000 barrels, so the storage was already there, and it is just a

short overnight run for a freight train to get that into Jersey and into the Baltimore area for loading for use abroad and also for distribution. in the whole Atlantic coast area.

In time of war that would be immensely valuable to us, too. There are all these features that go into it from a national viewpoint that must not be overlooked in considering the development of the canalization of that stream.

For that reason, it is my hope that it can be done and particularly it is a terrible thing to have a disjointed canalization where you have to use a one-sized boat for a certain distance and then it is cut off. It is just like paving a road half-way from the county seat in the county, and then cutting it off with the rest of it muddy. We have had that situation.

You can get in just so far with those large barges, and eventually they are going into that iron industry and they will have to when the steel industry wakes up to using the sponge-iron process; they are going to use it on a large scale. That is all I have to say.

Senator SPARKMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Kilgore.
Senator Neely, who is next?

Senator NEELY. Mr. Laughlin.

STATEMENT OF JOHN E. LAUGHLIN, JR., NATIONAL STEEL CORP.

Mr. LAUGHLIN. My name is John E. Laughlin, Jr., from Pittsburgh. I am representing the National Steel Corp.

With the permission of the chairman, I would like to file a statement of the National Steel Corp., which indicates our interest in this project.

We are now planning to open a mine in 1950 which will produce in the Morgantown area eventually about 1,800,000 tons of coal a year. We will employ approximately 700 people.

We, of course, have a selfish interest in this project, but there is another factor which I would like to point out, and which was touched upon by Colonel Moore. We have moved into this area because our mine in Pennsylvania is running out.

The steel industry in Pittsburgh is completely dependent upon having a very large, steady supply of coking coal which can be moved cheaply. Other steel companies in the Pittsburgh area will soon face the same kind of a situation that we have faced.

The logical point of further development of coking coal is in this area and, as a matter of fact, it is the only good source of coking coal for the Pittsburgh district.

This project, we believe, will open up this field and will encourage the development of mines in West Virginia along the lines of our own. I might add, Mr. Chairman, that there have been a number of civic organizations, business organizations and individuals, publicspirited citizens in Fairmont and Morgantown, W. Va., who have told us that they would like to appear in favor of this project.

Realizing that your time is short, we have more or less discouraged that, but they all have sent in telegrams and letters which we would like, with your permission, to offer for the record.

Senator SPARKMAN. That will be done, and your statement will also be included. As I understand it, you did want to file some statements?

Mr. LAUGHLIN. Yes, sir, I did, Mr. Chairman.

Senator SPARKMAN. They will be inserted in the record. (The documents referred to follow :)

STATEMENT IN BEHALF OF NATIONAL STEEL CORP., Pittsburgh, Pa. National Steel Corp. is now developing a new coal mine named the Weirton mine, in the area which would be affected by the proposed improvements of the upper Monongahela River. The mine property consists of approximately 13,000 acres of land, including a considerable frontage on the east bank of the Monongahela River, about 6 miles south of Morgantown. The cleaning plant and other surface installations of the mine will be located inland from the river and work is now under way to bore a tunnel from the site of the cleaning plant to the site of the proposed river dock, a distance of 2 miles. When the mine is in operation, coal will be transported through the tunnel by means of a conveyor belt extending from the cleaning plant to the docks.

Naturally, acquisition of the property and installation of the plant and facilities of the Weirton mine has involved a substantial capital investment. Our surveys indicate an approximate total of 41,000,000 tons of recoverable coal. On this basis, the mine will have a minimum life of 28 years. It is anticipated that the active operation of the mine will begin in the spring or summer of 1950. The mine will be devoted exclusively to the production of coal for the Weirton Steel Co., a subsidiary of National Steel Corp. The coal will be transported from the mine by barge via the Monongahela and Ohio rivers to the plant of the Weirton Steel Co. at Weirton, W. Va., a distance of about 170 river miles. At the plant, the coal will be converted into coke in byproduct ovens, and in that form will be used in the production of pig iron which will be further used to make steel for the wide range of finished products manufactured by the Weirton Steel Co.

Initially, we plan to produce coal at the Weirton mine at the annual rate of 1,000,000 tons. It is our desire, however, to increase production as rapidly as possible to an ultimate rate of 1,800,000 tons per year. At this latter rate, the Weirton mine will provide employment for about 700 men.

The construction of large, modern dams to replace the present obsolescent installations, the widening and deepening of channels, and other improvements on the upper Monongahela River presently considered, will aid greatly in making it possible to operate the Weirton mine at its full-potential capacity. The improvements also will contribute to an important degree to the efficiency of the operation.

If the Weirton mine were in operation today barges at its docks could be loaded with only 600 tons of coal, or to 60 percent of capacity, because this would be the maximum loading possible with the present 6-foot channel depth. Further, because of the small size of the locks at Dams 10, 11, and 12, it would be necessary to tow only two barges at a time, or, as an alternative, to tow a larger number of barges but at each dam, split the tow, pass two barges through the locks at a time, then reform the tow. In either case, the partly loaded barges would have to be taken to the docks of the company's Isabella mine, at Isabella, Pa., for full loading.

On conservative estimate, almost half as much time would be required to move a given tonnage of coal over the 38 miles from the Weirton mine to Isabella as is required to transport the same tonnage 132 miles from Isabella to the Weirton plant. The time lost in transport and in the second docking at Isabella would be reflected in higher operating costs and, in addition, the company would be required to build and maintain a larger fleet of barges than would otherwise be

necessary.

If the river channel is deepened to 9 feet and the present dams are replaced with modern installations, it will be possible to load barges to capacity at the Weirton mine dock and assemble them into standard tows for direct transportation to the plant of the Weirton Steel Co. Obviously, both the savings in operating costs and the lower cost and maintenance of a smaller barge fleet will be highly important.

It is our opinion that since the advantages of the proposed river improvements are so marked in the case of National Steel Corp., they would apply with similar effect to other existing and potential industries and thus contribute to the further economic development of the upper Monongahela River region.

In closing we wish to comment on an aspect of these improvements that is important not only to the steel industry but to the entire economy. It is well known that the serious decrease in reserves of metallurgical coal is a matter of