The Science and Technology Program supports three separate but related efforts, (1) projects that develop and demonstrate improved technologies to address public safety and environmental issues related to the mining of coal and reclamation of the lands affected after mining (applied science projects),

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(2) projects that encourage efforts to collect, preserve and convert into digital format, maps of underground mines that provide valuable information regarding:
miner safety; mine pool evaluation; mine subsidence investigation, and protection of the public and the environment from adverse effects of underground coal mining (underground mine map projects); and (3) projects that convert into digital form, mine permit data and maps related to evaluating the impacts of coal mining so that the information may be used in a geographic information system (GIS)accessible by all Federal, state, and tribal agencies for assessing impacts of coal mining and reclamation on the environment (data conversion projects).

Data conversion projects may also convert existing legacy databases to modern database software, and/or provide hardware and programming assistance for states to transition to managing and using this digital data.

*While there are no funds specifically earmarked for projects in 2013, funding may be allocated by OSM during the year based on agency priorities.