Union Calendar No. 358

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3967

[Report No. 103–661]

A BILL

To amend the Helium Act to prohibit the Bureau

reserve, and for other purposes.helium, to dispose of the United States heliumof Mines from refining helium and selling refined

AUGUST 3, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 358

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3967

[Report No. 103–661]

To amend the Helium Act to prohibit the Bureau of Mines from refining

helium and selling refined helium, to dispose of the United States helium

reserve, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 8, 1994

Mr. LEHMAN (for himself, Mrs. VUCANOVICH, and Mr. MILLER of California)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Natural Resources

AUGUST 3, 1994

Additional sponsors: Mr. MURPHY, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms.

DANNER, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming, Mr.

HOLDEN, Mr. BARLOW, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. DOOLITTLE,

Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. KLEIN, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. HUGHES, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr.

SKEEN, Mr. WYNN, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. BLUTE, Mr. FRANKS of Connecticut, Mr.

ZELIFF, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. POMBO, Mr.

GALLEGLY, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. COPPERSMITH, Mr.

MCHALE, and Mr. SAXTON

AUGUST 3, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 8, 1994]
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A BILL

To amend the Helium Act to prohibit the Bureau of Mines

from refining helium and selling refined helium, to dispose of the United States helium reserve, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helium Act of 1994’’.

5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF HELIUM ACT.

6 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in

7 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of

8 an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision,

9 the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or

10 other provision of the Helium Act (50 U.S.C. 167 to 167n).

11 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

12 Sections 3, 4, and 5 are amended to read as follows:

13 ‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

14 ‘‘(a) EXTRACTION AND DISPOSAL OF HELIUM ON FED15 ERAL LANDS.—(1) The Secretary may enter into agree16 ments with private parties for the recovery and disposal

17 of helium on Federal lands upon such terms and conditions

18 as he deems fair, reasonable and necessary. The Secretary

19 may grant leasehold rights to any such helium. The Sec20 retary may not enter into any agreement by which the Sec21 retary sells such helium other than to a private party with
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1 whom the Secretary has an agreement for recovery and dis2 posal of helium. Such agreements may be subject to such

3 rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary.

4 ‘‘(2) Any agreement under this subsection shall be sub5 ject to the existing rights of any affected Federal oil and

6 gas lessee. Each such agreement (and any extension or re7 newal thereof) shall contain such terms and conditions as

8 deemed appropriate by the Secretary.

9 ‘‘(3) This subsection shall not in any manner affect

10 or diminish the rights and obligations of the Secretary and

11 private parties under agreements to dispose of helium pro12 duced from Federal lands in existence at the enactment of

13 the Helium Act of 1994 except to the extent that such agree14 ments are renewed or extended after such date.

15 ‘‘(b) STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND SALE.—The

16 Secretary is authorized to store, transport, and sell helium

17 only in accordance with this Act.

18 ‘‘(c) MONITORING AND REPORTING.—The Secretary is

19 authorized to monitor helium production and helium re20 serves in the United States and to periodically prepare re21 ports regarding the amounts of helium produced and the

22 quantity of crude helium in storage in the United States.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 4. STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF CRUDE

2 HELIUM.

3 ‘‘(a) STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION.—The Secretary

4 is authorized to store and transport crude helium and to

5 maintain and operate existing crude helium storage at the

6 Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field, together with related he7 lium transportation and withdrawal facilities.

8 ‘‘(b) CESSATION OF PRODUCTION, REFINING, AND

9 MARKETING.—Effective one year after the date of enact10 ment of the Helium Act of 1994, the Secretary shall cease

11 producing, refining and marketing refined helium and shall

12 cease carrying out all other activities relating to helium

13 which the Secretary was authorized to carry out under this

14 Act before the date of enactment of the Helium Act of 1994,

15 except those activities described in subsection (a).

16 ‘‘(c) DISPOSAL OF FACILITIES.—(1) Within one year

17 after the date of enactment of the Helium Act of 1994, the

18 Secretary shall dispose of all facilities, equipment, and

19 other real and personal property, together with all interests

20 therein, held by the United States for the purpose of produc21 ing, refining and marketing refined helium. The disposal

22 of such property shall be in accordance with the provisions

23 of law governing the disposal of excess or surplus properties

24 of the United States.

25 ‘‘(2) All proceeds accruing to the United States by rea26 son of the sale or other disposal of such property shall be
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1 treated as moneys received under this chapter for purposes

2 of section 6(f). All costs associated with such sale and dis3 posal (including costs associated with termination of per4 sonnel) and with the cessation of activities under subsection

5 (b) shall be paid from amounts available in the helium pro6 duction fund established under section 6(f).

7 ‘‘(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any facilities,

8 equipment, or other real or personal property, or any inter9 est therein, necessary for the storage and transportation of

10 crude helium.

11 ‘‘(d) EXISTING CONTRACTS.—All contracts which were

12 entered into by any person with the Secretary for the pur13 chase by such person from the Secretary of refined helium

14 and which are in effect on the date of the enactment of the

15 Helium Act of 1994 shall remain in force and effect until

16 the date on which the facilities referred to in subsection (c)

17 are disposed of. Any costs associated with the termination

18 of such contracts shall be paid from the helium production

19 fund established under section 6(f).

20 ‘‘SEC. 5. FEES FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND WITH21 DRAWAL.

22 ‘‘Whenever the Secretary provides helium storage,

23 withdrawal, or transportation services to any person, the

24 Secretary is authorized and directed to impose fees on such

25 person to reimburse the Secretary for the full costs of pro-
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1 viding such storage, transportation, and withdrawal. All

2 such fees received by the Secretary shall be treated as mon3 eys received under this Act for purposes of section 6(f).’’.

4 SEC. 4. SALE OF CRUDE HELIUM.

5 Section 6 is amended as follows:

6 (1) Subsection (a) is amended by striking out

7 ‘‘from the Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘from persons

8 who have entered into enforceable contracts to pur9 chase an equivalent amount of crude helium from the

10 Secretary’’.

11 (2) Subsection (b) is amended by inserting

12 ‘‘crude’’ before ‘‘helium’’ and by adding the following

13 at the end thereof: ‘‘Except as may be required by

14 reason of subsection (a), sales of crude helium under

15 this section shall be in amounts as the Secretary de16 termines, in consultation with the helium industry,

17 necessary to carry out this subsection with minimum

18 market disruption.

19 (3) Subsection (c) is amended by inserting

20 ‘‘crude’’ before ‘‘helium’’ after the words ‘‘Sales of’’

21 and by striking ‘‘together with interest as provided in

22 subsection’’ and all that follows down through the pe23 riod at the end of such subsection and inserting the

24 following:
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1 ‘‘all funds required to be repaid to the United States as

2 of October 1, 1993 under this section (hereinafter referred

3 to as ‘repayable amounts’). The price at which crude helium

4 is sold by the Secretary shall not be less than the amount

5 determined by the Secretary as follows:

6 ‘‘(1) Divide the outstanding amount of such re7 payable amounts by the volume (in mcf) of crude he8 lium owned by the United States and stored in the

9 Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field at the time of the sale

10 concerned.

11 ‘‘(2) Adjust the amount determined under para12 graph (1) by the Consumer Price Index for years be13 ginning after December 31, 1993.’’.

14 (4) Subsection (d) is amended to read as follows:

15 ‘‘(d) EXTRACTION OF HELIUM FROM DEPOSITS ON

16 FEDERAL LANDS.—All moneys received by the Secretary

17 from the sale or disposition of helium on Federal lands shall

18 be paid to the Treasury and credited against the amounts

19 required to be repaid to the Treasury under subsection (c)

20 of this section.’’.

21 (5) Subsection (e) is repealed.

22 (6) Subsection (f) is amended by inserting ‘‘(1)’’

23 after ‘‘(f)’’ and by adding the following at the end

24 thereof:
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1 ‘‘(2) Within 7 days after the commencement of each

2 fiscal year after the disposal of the facilities referred to in

3 section 4(c), all amounts in such fund in excess of

4 $2,000,000 (or such lesser sum as the Secretary deems nec5 essary to carry out this Act during such fiscal year) shall

6 be paid to the Treasury and credited as provided in para7 graph (1). Upon repayment of all amounts referred to in

8 subsection (c), the fund established under this section shall

9 be terminated and all moneys received under this Act shall

10 be deposited in the Treasury as General Revenues.’’.

11 SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

12 Section 8 is amended to read as follows:

13 ‘‘SEC. 8. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

14 ‘‘(a) REVIEW OF RESERVES.—The Secretary shall re15 view annually the known helium reserves in the United

16 States and make a determination as to the expected life of

17 the domestic helium reserves (other than federally owned he18 lium stored at the Cliffside Reservoir) at that time.

19 ‘‘(b) STOCKPILE SALES.—Not later than January 1,

20 2004, the Secretary shall commence making sales of crude

21 helium from helium reserves owned by the United States

22 in such amounts as may be necessary to dispose of all such

23 helium reserves in excess of 600 million cubic feet (mcf) by

24 January 1, 2014. The sales shall be at such times and in

25 such lots as the Secretary determines, in consultation with
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1 the helium industry, to be necessary to carry out this sub2 section with minimum market disruption. The price for all

3 such sales, as determined by the Secretary in consultation

4 with the helium industry, shall be such as will ensure re5 payment of the amounts required to be repaid to the Treas6 ury under section 6(c).

7 ‘‘(c) DISCOVERY OF ADDITIONAL RESERVES.—The dis8 covery of additional helium reserves shall not affect the duty

9 of the Secretary to make sales of helium as provided in sub10 section (b), as the case may be.’’.

11 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.

12 Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.