NMA and the American Waterways Operators (AWO) hosted a group of Congressional staffers on an industry education tour earlier this month.

 

The tour was part of NMA’s program to provide key Members of Congress and their staff with practical knowledge about the mining industry.

 

The tour started at Allegheny Power’s Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in Masontown, Pennsylvania. The group toured the 1,710 megawatt coal-fired facility before boarding CONSOL Energy’s Wanda B towboat.

 

The staffers travelled approximately 21 miles upriver on the towboat, transporting nine coal barges through the Maxwell lock to their destination at a CONSOL loading facility.

 

The tour group also travelled to DBT America’s manufacturing facility in Houston, PA, where they received a briefing on the different types of equipment used in an underground coal mine before touring the facility in which the equipment is made.

 

They were then off to Waynesburg, PA, where after a mine safety training course, the group suited up in safety gear for a tour of RAG American Coal Holding’s Cumberland Mine. Participants were taken 720 feet below the surface for a demonstration of the longwall machinery used at the mine.