Title 30Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73

§1226 Research

Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 25— - SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - STATE MINING AND MINERAL RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTES › § 1226

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must get ongoing advice and help from federal, state, and local governments and from private groups involved with mining and minerals. The goal is to make sure new programs add to, not repeat, existing research, to push work in neglected areas, and to build a nationwide mining and minerals research effort that respects the environment. The Secretary must also make information and reports about planned, ongoing, and finished projects available to the public, as well as what the institutes publish. The Secretary does not gain control over other federal agencies’ research or their duties. Any institute that gets a grant must promptly make its uses, products, processes, patents, and other results available to the public, except for limits the Secretary finds necessary for the public interest. Patentable inventions follow Public Law 96–517, and owners keep rights in any background patents. Congress authorized $450,000 for each fiscal year ending September 30, 1990, through September 30, 1994, to administer the program, and the Secretary may not withhold administrative expenses from the funds authorized by sections 1221 and 1222. Money for printing and publishing results may be provided but cannot exceed $550,000 in any one fiscal year.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §1226

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary shall obtain the continuing advice and cooperation of all agencies of the Federal Government concerned with mining and mineral resources, of State and local governments, and of private institutions and individuals to assure that the programs authorized by this subchapter will supplement and not be redundant with respect to established mining and minerals research programs, and to stimulate research in otherwise neglected areas, and to contribute to a comprehensive nationwide program of mining and minerals research, with due regard for the protection and conservation of the environment. The Secretary shall make generally available information and reports on projects completed, in progress, or planned under the provisions of this subchapter, in addition to any direct publication of information by the institutes themselves.
(b)Nothing in this subchapter is intended to give or shall be construed as giving the Secretary any authority over mining and mineral resources research conducted by any agency of the Federal Government, or as repealing or diminishing existing authorities or responsibilities of any agency of the Federal Government to plan and conduct, contract for, or assist in research in its area of responsibility and concern with regard to mining and mineral resources.
(c)No research, demonstration, or experiment shall be carried out under this subchapter by an institute financed by grants under this subchapter, unless all uses, products, processes, patents, and other developments resulting therefrom, with such exception or limitation, if any, as the Secretary may find necessary in the public interest, are made available promptly to the general public. Patentable inventions shall be governed by the provisions of Public Law 96–517. Nothing contained in this section shall deprive the owner of any background patent relating to any such activities of any rights which that owner may have under that patent.
(d)(1)There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $450,000 for each of the fiscal years ending September 30, 1990, through September 30, 1994, to administer this subchapter. No funds may be withheld by the Secretary for administrative expenses from those authorized to be appropriated by section 1221 and 1222 of this title.
(2)There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums as are necessary for the printing and publishing of the results of activities carried out by institutes and generic mineral technology centers under this subchapter, but such appropriations shall not exceed $550,000 in any single fiscal year.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Public Law 96–517, referred to in subsec. (c), is Pub. L. 96–517, Dec. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 3015. section 6(a) of Pub. L. 96–517, relating to patent rights in inventions made with Federal assistance, is classified to chapter 18 (§ 200 et seq.) of Title 35, Patents. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. Codification Section was enacted as part of the Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute Act of 1984, and not as part of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 which comprises this chapter.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 1226, Pub. L. 95–87, title III, § 306, Aug. 3, 1977, 91 Stat. 454, contained provisions similar to this section covering fiscal years 1978 through 1984.

Amendments

1988—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 100–483 amended subsec. (d) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (d) read as follows: “There are authorized to be appropriated after September 30, 1984, such sums as are necessary for the printing and publishing of the results of activities carried out by institutes under this subchapter and for administrative planning and direction, but such appropriations shall not exceed $1,000,000 in any single fiscal year.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 1226

Title 30Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73