30 U.S.C. § 4
Section 4 · Investigation of lignite coal and peat
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 147 court decisions — leading case Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. BP P.L.C. (2022)
Most recently applied in United States v. Marilyn Mosby (July 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 12 U.S.C. § 4 · 13 U.S.C. § 4 · 14 U.S.C. § 4
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to make experiments and investigations, through the United States Bureau of Mines, of lignite coals and peat, to determine the commercial and economic practicability of their utilization in producing fuel oil, gasoline substitutes, ammonia, tar, solid fuels, gas for power, and other purposes. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed subject to applicable regulations under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended [40 U.S.C. 471 et seq.], to sell or otherwise dispose of any property, plant, or machinery purchased or acquired under the provisions of this section, as soon as the experiments and investigations authorized have been concluded, and report the results of such experiments and investigations to Congress.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, referred to in text, is act June 30, 1949, ch. 288, 63 Stat. 377, as amended. Provisions of that act relating to disposal of government property are classified to chapter 10 (§471 et seq.) of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 471 of Title 40 and Tables.
Codification
First sentence of this section is from first clause of section 1 of act Feb. 25, 1919. Second sentence is from section 2 of said act.
Amendments
1951—Act Oct. 31, 1951, inserted reference to applicable regulations of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended.
Change of Name
“United States Bureau of Mines” substituted in text for “Bureau of Mines” pursuant to section 10(b) of Pub. L. 102–285, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.
Transfer of Functions
See note set out under section 1 of this title.