U.S. Bureau of Mines USBM

On December 6, 1907, explosions at the Monongah coal mines in West Virginia killed at least 362 men, the worst mining disaster in U.S. history, in a year when more than 3,000 miners died on the job. Public pressure led Congress to pass the Organic Act of May 16, 1910, creating the Bureau of Mines in the Interior Department to investigate the causes of mine accidents and find ways to prevent them.

The Bureau ran research stations and an experimental mine near Pittsburgh, tested explosives and safety equipment, trained miners in first aid and rescue, and sent railroad rescue cars to disaster sites. It studied mining methods, metallurgy, and fuel efficiency, collected statistics on mineral production, and from 1925 ran the Federal Helium Reserve near Amarillo, Texas, supplying helium for airships and later the space program. It gained limited inspection powers in 1941 and stronger enforcement authority in 1952 and 1969, until mine safety enforcement was moved in 1973 to a separate agency that later became the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

As budget cutters looked for savings in the mid-1990s, Congress eliminated the Bureau in the fiscal 1996 Interior appropriations law, and it closed in early 1996. Its minerals information work moved to the U.S. Geological Survey, health and safety research went to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and other programs went to the Energy Department and elsewhere. Supporters of the closure said its functions could be carried out by other agencies, while critics argued that the loss of a dedicated mining research agency weakened expertise just as mineral supply chains were becoming a national security concern.