Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§13336 Coalbed Methane Recovery

Title 42 › Chapter 134— ENERGY POLICY › Subchapter VI— COAL › Part A— Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercial Application › § 13336

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary, with the EPA Administrator and the Interior Secretary, must study barriers—technical, economic, financial, legal, regulatory, and institutional—to recovering coalbed methane and ways to remove those barriers. They must also study the environmental and safety effects of burning off (flaring) methane from coal mines. Starting one year after October 24, 1992, they must give the public information on current recovery methods, including costs and benefits, and create a demonstration and commercial program focused on gas enrichment to make recovered methane usable. The program must cover enrichment to pipeline quality, using ventilation air in nearby power plants, cofiring mine methane with coal, and other mine-methane uses.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §13336

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of the Interior, shall conduct a study of—

(1)technical, economic, financial, legal, regulatory, institutional, or other barriers to coalbed methane recovery, and of policy options for eliminating such barriers; and

(2)the environmental and safety aspects of flaring coalbed methane liberated from coal mines.

(b)Beginning one year after October 24, 1992, the Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of the Interior, shall disseminate to the public information on state-of-the-art coalbed methane recovery techniques, including information on costs and benefits.

(c)The Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of the Interior, shall establish a coalbed methane recovery demonstration and commercial application program, which shall emphasize gas enrichment technology. Such program shall address—

(1)gas enrichment technologies for enriching medium-quality methane recovered from coal mines to pipeline quality;

(2)technologies to use mine ventilation air in nearby power generation facilities, including gas turbines, internal combustion engines, or other coal fired powerplants;

(3)technologies for cofiring methane recovered from mines, including methane from ventilation systems and degasification systems, together with coal in conventional or clean coal technology boilers; and

(4)other technologies for producing and using methane from coal mines that the Secretary considers appropriate.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 13336

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60