One Hundred Years of Federal Mining Safety and Health Research

Congress in the 1994 elections and implemented many of the provisions of the Contract with
America. On July 18, 1995, the House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill, H.R.
1977, that provided funding only for the orderly closure of the Bureau. The Senate passed its
own version of the appropriations bill, which included additional funding for the continuation of
the Bureau. Finally, the House and Senate conference committee resolved their differences in
September 1995 with a decision to close the Bureau and transfer some of its functions, staff, and
facilities to other federal agencies. This decision became final with the passage of a continuing
resolution for the fiscal year 1996 funding of the federal government.
At the time of its closure, the Bureau had facilities in 13 locations around the country in addition
to its headquarters in Washington, DC. There were nine Research Centers, located in Albany,
OR; Denver, CO; Minneapolis, MN; Pittsburgh, PA; Reno, NV; Rolla, MO; Salt Lake City, UT;
Spokane, WA, and Tuscaloosa, AL. The Bureau also had three minerals information Field
Operations Centers in Alaska (with offices in Anchorage and Juneau); Spokane, WA, and
Denver, CO. In addition, there was a Minerals Availability Field Office in Denver, CO, and a
Helium Operations facility in Amarillo, TX (Kirk, 1996).
Some provisions of the legislation that closed the Bureau were as follows:
• The mining research laboratory facilities and staff at Pittsburgh and Spokane and the
health and safety research function were temporarily transferred to the Department of
Energy. Later it was decided by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that these
should be transferred to NIOSH.
• The materials research laboratory at Albany, OR was transferred to DOE.
• The mining environmental research being done at Pittsburgh and the associated staff were
transferred to DOE and remained there.
• The minerals information function and part of the staff in Washington, DC, and Denver,
CO, were transferred to the US Geological Survey at Reston, VA.
• The helium production function was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management for
eventual closure in 1998.
• About 600 employees were involved in transfers to other agencies.
• The six Bureau research laboratories at Denver, Minneapolis, Reno, Salt Lake City,
Rolla, MO, and Tuscaloosa, AL, were closed and the staff terminated. The Minerals
Information offices in Denver and Spokane were also closed.
• The administrative functions and staff in Washington, DC, were terminated.
• More than 1,200 employees lost their jobs and the U.S. Bureau of Mines ceased to exist
in 1996.
6. Consolidation and New Beginning: 1996-2010
6.1 Mining Research under NIOSH
The legislation that closed the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Public Law 104-99) also transferred the
mining health and safety research function and associated staff and facilities at Pittsburgh and
Spokane to the Department of Energy, with provision that a later decision should be made as to
whether these should remain in DOE or be transferred to MSHA or NIOSH. The Fiscal Year
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