You may recall several weeks ago Kathy Mattea was in the news after
taking an airplane ride with the extremist groups to view mountaintop
operations. When asked about that trip we responded that she, being a
West Virginian, should take time to see real operations and meet the
real West Virginians who are doing the outstanding work, before voicing
her opinion. We publicly invited her to visit some of our operations
so she would at least have the real facts and look our people in the
eye to see how sincere and dedicated they are to their jobs, family,
environment and safety.
You may recall several weeks ago Kathy Mattea was in the news after taking an airplane ride with the extremist groups to view mountaintop operations. When asked about that trip we responded that she, being a West Virginian, should take time to see real operations and meet the real West Virginians who are doing the outstanding work, before voicing her opinion. We publicly invited her to visit some of our operations so she would at least have the real facts and look our people in the eye to see how sincere and dedicated they are to their jobs, family, environment and safety.
Kathy Mattea accepted our suggestion that she needed to see a real mining operation and meet real West Virginia coal miners before she made public statements about the industry. She met Mike Walker and Roger Lilly at Walker Machinery’s Belle offices and toured the facility meeting many of the men and women who build, repair and maintain Caterpillar equipment for a living and depend on mining for their livelihoods. Roger then took her on an expansive helicopter tour of southern West Virginia operations and reclamation sites, landing at Pritchard Mining’s Four Mile operation in Kanawha County. At Pritchard, Association Chairman and Pritchard President Andrew Jordon took her on a ground tour of the operation and adjacent reclamation sites. Andrew, assisted by Rocky Hackworth, Jason Payne and all the men on the job, pointed out all aspects of the job and the careful planning and effort that goes into a successful day’s operation. All the men participated in a lunch and discussion with Kathy. After having been misinformed by the extremist opponents to mining several weeks earlier, she clearly saw the other side of our industry with the dedication, professionalism and concern shown by all the men at Pritchard and the men and women at Walker
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