"In May and June 1976, the writercame to the US at the invitation of the Energy Research and Development Administration and visited establishments working on underground coal gasification at Morgantown, WV; Laramie, WY; Livermore, CA; and the headquarters in Washington DC. The purpose was to study what was then being done, and what was proposed as a forward programme, and to offer comments based on his previous experience of UCG research and development in Britain and the USSR. A report on this assignment was submitted in July 1975. The present study results from a similar invitation from the DOE with the object reviewing the progress made in the last three years and, again, discussing the future programme."