One Hundred Years of Federal Mining Safety and Health Research

Coal Advanced Mining Technology Program was reduced in budget by DOE over the next few
years, eventually transferred back to the Bureau along with the remaining staff and facilities in
the early 1980s. By that time, the program had been reduced to only a small fraction of its
former size when it had left the Bureau.
The Secretary of the Interior established the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and
Enforcement (OSM) in 1977. This new agency was responsible for regulation of coal mining
under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). OSM was given
three main functions: (1) regulating active mines, (2) reclaiming lands damaged by surface
mining and abandoned mines, and (3) providing resources for technical assistance, training, and
technology development. The Bureau continued to conduct mining research, including the new
Minerals Environmental Technology Research Program that it established in 1979.
5.4 Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977
The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (the 1977 Mine Act) (Public Law 95-164)
amended the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969. Enacted November 9, 1977, it took
effect 120 days later. The 1977 Mine Act extended most of the provisions of the 1969 Coal Act
to all other mines and also increased the authorized funding for health and safety research. The
1977 Mine Act amended the 1969 Coal Act in a number of significant ways, principally by
consolidating all federal health and safety regulations of the mining industry—coal as well as
non-coal mining—under a single law.
The 1977 Mine Act also strengthened and expanded the rights of miners, enhancing the
protection of miners from retaliation for exercising their rights. The 1977 Mine Act transferred
MESA and its functions from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Labor, and
changed the name of the agency to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
Additionally, the 1977 Mine Act established the independent Federal Mine Safety and Health
Review Commission to provide for independent review of the majority of MSHA’s enforcement
actions (MSHA website, 03/10/09).
The organizational effects of the 1977 Mine Act on MESA were to transfer the entire agency to
the Department of Labor, as well as to change its name to MSHA to parallel its sister agency in
that department, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). MSHA was given
regulatory authorities for noncoal mines similar to those it had already possessed for coal mines.
MSHA and OSHA negotiated an agreement that defined their areas of responsibility in metal and
nonmetal mines and mills. The agreement specified that MSHA had responsibility for regulation
on mining property until such stage in the process that chemical changes were made in the ore
being produced; OSHA had responsibility for safety and health regulation for any later stages in
mineral processing.
The Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 authorized NIOSH to:
• Develop recommendations for mine health standards for the Mine Safety and Health
Administration;
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