§1311 Establishment of University Coal Research Laboratories

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must pick 13 colleges to host university coal research laboratories. The Secretary will talk with the National Academy of Engineering first. Ten of the schools must be chosen under the process described here, and the other three must be chosen in fiscal year 1980. The ten schools must be in states with large coal supplies. Each chosen school must have experience and strong programs in coal research and be able to run the labs. No more than one lab may be in the same state, and there must be at least one lab in each major coal region the U.S. Bureau of Mines recognizes, including Alaska. The Secretary must set an application period that ends no later than 90 days after August 3, 1977. Schools that want to be chosen must apply and give information the Secretary asks for. Applications must describe the planned research facilities for coal and related environmental work (involving specialists like engineers, geologists, chemists, and ecologists), a plan for a coal test laboratory that can also host industry researchers, and a program that gives research and development work to advanced students and links the lab to ongoing education and research on coal. The Secretary must name the ten schools within 90 days after the application period ends.