300 



with "* * * the petroleum industry's expenditures of about $146 

 million and the chemical industry at $361 million.'' ^^ Other witnesses 

 alluded to the substantial support for research in atomic energy.^^ 



Constraints on the feasible level of effort in coal research were of 

 several different kinds. One was the ability of the private coal industry 

 to sponsor its own research- This had been shown to be inadequate. 

 (See page 296.) Another was the availability of research personnel 

 and facilities. On this point, a principal spokesman of the Department 

 of the Interior had expressed his reservations. (See page 297.) 



The relationship between the availability of trained research per- 

 sonnel and the existence of a stable and dependably expanding pro- 

 gram of coal research was suggested by the testimony of Prof. H. R. 

 Charmbury, head of the department of mineral preparation at Penn- 

 sylvania State University. Although his institution specialized in coal 

 research and training, he said, only 11 of 22 graduates at all levels in 

 the preceding year had entered the coal industry. He went on — 



Upon questioning these graduates who normally would enter the coal industry, 

 they frankly state, for the most part, that they consider coal on the way out. 

 This impression is definitely not developed within their instruction courses ; in 

 fact, their instruction is quite to the contrary. 



However, due to the bad publicity about the coal industry, such as the diffi- 

 culties of a dependable supply due to strikes, railroad car shortages, and per- 

 manent loss of trained labor in distressed periods, plus the glamorous writeups 

 about other energy-producing materials, the general impression is created that 

 the coal industry is dying, if not already dead. 



He noted that the newspapers were replete with advertisements ''prac- 

 tically begging the young engineers, regardless of their specific train- 

 ing, to enter the field of commercial atomic power, jet fuels, guided 

 missiles, and the like." The contrast with the prospects for advance- 

 ment in coal, he suggested was "rather obvious." ^^ 



Organizational issues in expanded coal research program 



There were two overriding questions, in the event that coal research 

 was to be expanded, as to the organizational arrangement to manage 

 the expansion. Should a new agency be created, or should the expanded 

 effort be entrusted t-o the Bureau of Mines ? Should a new agency, if 

 one was created, be closely associated organizationally with the Bureau 

 of Mines or the Department of the Interior, or should it be an inde- 

 pendent agency like the Atomic Energy Commission and the National 

 Science Foundation ? 



The Bureau of Mines had received some criticism from members 

 of the subcommittee for its handling of applied research in extrac- 

 tion of liquid fuels from coal. ( See page 297.) Its general responsibility 

 for research in all mineral resources, at least by implication, might be 

 considered to diffuse its research effort away from coal. Various spokes- 

 men for the Bureau had expressed reservations as to whether a broad 



SI "Coal." Hearings Before the Special Subcommittee on Coal Research of the * * * pur- 

 suant to H. Res. 400 * * ♦ 1956 (serial No. 35), op. cit, p. 134. 



^ For example, Harold J. Rose, vice president and director of research. Bituminous Coal 

 Research, Inc., said that "♦ * • It should be pointed out that hundreds of millions of 

 U.S. dollars are being spent for research in this country to develop atomic power, with no 

 assurance that atomic power can in the foreseeable future compete in economy nnd safety 

 with power from coal" ("Coal" Hearings Before the Special Subcommittee on Coal Research 

 of the * * * on the Establishment of a Research and Development Program for the Coal 

 Industry, pt. 1, 1957 (serial No. 3), op. cit., p. 28). 



" Ibid., pt. 1, 1957 (serial No. 3), p. 54. 



