I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3967

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

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

8 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
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1 sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a

2 section or other provision of the Helium Act (50 U.S.C.

3 167 to 167n).

4 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

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

6 ‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

7 ‘‘(a) EXTRACTION AND DISPOSAL OF HELIUM ON

8 FEDERAL LANDS.—(1) The Secretary may enter into

9 agreements with private parties for the recovery and dis10 posal of helium on Federal lands upon such terms and

11 conditions as he deems fair, reasonable and necessary. The

12 Secretary may grant leasehold rights to any such helium.

13 The Secretary may not enter into any agreement by which

14 the Secretary sells such helium other than to a private

15 party with whom the Secretary has an agreement for re16 covery and disposal of helium. Such agreements may be

17 subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed

18 by the Secretary.

19 ‘‘(2) Any agreement under this subsection shall be

20 subject to the existing rights of any affected Federal oil

21 and gas lessee. Each such agreement (and any extension

22 or renewal thereof) shall contain such terms and condi23 tions as deemed appropriate by the Secretary.

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

25 or diminish the rights and obligations of the Secretary and
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1 private parties under agreements to dispose of helium pro2 duced from Federal lands in existence at the enactment

3 of the Helium Act of 1994 except to the extent that such

4 agreements are renewed or extended after such date.

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

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

7 only in accordance with this Act.

8 ‘‘(c) MONITORING AND REPORTING.—The Secretary

9 is authorized to monitor helium production and helium re10 serves in the United States and to periodically prepare re11 ports regarding the amounts of helium produced and the

12 quantity of crude helium in storage in the United States.

13 ‘‘SEC. 4. STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF CRUDE

14 HELIUM.

15 ‘‘(a) STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION.—The Sec16 retary is authorized to store and transport crude helium

17 and to maintain and operate existing crude helium storage

18 at the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field, together with relat19 ed helium transportation and withdrawal facilities.

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

21 MARKETING.—Effective one year after the date of enact22 ment of the Helium Act of 1994, the Secretary shall cease

23 producing, refining and marketing refined helium and

24 shall cease carrying out all other activities relating to he25 lium which the Secretary was authorized to carry out
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1 under this Act before the date of enactment of the Helium

2 Act of 1994, except those activities described in subsection

3 (a).

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

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

6 the Secretary shall dispose of all facilities, equipment, and

7 other real and personal property, together with all inter8 ests therein, held by the United States for the purpose

9 of producing, refining and marketing refined helium. The

10 disposal of such property shall be in accordance with the

11 provisions of law governing the disposal of excess or sur12 plus properties of the United States.

13 ‘‘(2) All proceeds accruing to the United States by

14 reason of the sale or other disposal of such property shall

15 be treated as moneys received under this chapter for pur16 poses of section 6(f). All costs associated with such sale

17 and disposal (including costs associated with termination

18 of personnel) and with the cessation of activities under

19 subsection (b) shall be paid from amounts available in the

20 helium production fund established under section 6(f).

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

22 equipment, or other real or personal property, or any in23 terest therein, necessary for the storage and transpor24 tation of crude helium.
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1 ‘‘(d) EXISTING CONTRACTS.—All contracts which

2 were entered into by any person with the Secretary for

3 the purchase by such person from the Secretary of refined

4 helium and which are in effect on the date of the enact5 ment of the Helium Act of 1994 shall remain in force and

6 effect until the date on which the facilities referred to in

7 subsection (c) are disposed of. Any costs associated with

8 the termination of such contracts shall be paid from the

9 helium production fund established under section 6(f).

10 ‘‘SEC. 5. FEES FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND WITH11 DRAWAL.

12 ‘‘Whenever the Secretary provides helium storage,

13 withdrawal, or transportation services to any person, the

14 Secretary is authorized and directed to impose fees on

15 such person to reimburse the Secretary for the full costs

16 of providing such storage, transportation, and withdrawal.

17 All such fees received by the Secretary shall be treated

18 as moneys received under this Act for purposes of section

19 6(f).’’.

20 SEC. 4. SALE OF CRUDE HELIUM.

21 Section 6 is amended as follows:

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

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

24 who have entered into enforceable contracts to pur-
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1 chase an equivalent amount of crude helium from

2 the Secretary’’.

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

4 ‘‘crude’’ before ‘‘helium’’ and by adding the follow5 ing at the end thereof: ‘‘Except as may be required

6 by reason of subsection (a), the Secretary shall not

7 make sales of crude helium under this section in

8 such amounts as will disrupt the market price of

9 crude helium.’’.

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

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

12 and by striking ‘‘together with interest as provided

13 in this subsection’’ and all that follows down

14 through the period at the end of such subsection and

15 inserting the following:

16 ‘‘all funds required to be repaid to the United States as

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

18 to as ‘repayable amounts’). The price at which crude he19 lium is sold by the Secretary shall not be less than the

20 amount determined by the Secretary as follows:

21 ‘‘(1) Divide the outstanding amount of such re22 payable amounts by the volume (in mcf) of crude he23 lium owned by the United States and stored in the

24 Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field at the time of the

25 sale concerned.
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1 ‘‘(2) Adjust the amount determined under para2 graph (1) by the Consumer Price Index for years be3 ginning after December 31, 1993.’’.

4 (4) Subsection (d) is amended to read as fol5 lows:

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

7 FEDERAL LANDS.—All moneys received by the Secretary

8 from the sale or disposition of helium on Federal lands

9 shall be paid to the Treasury and credited against the

10 amounts required to be repaid to the Treasury under sub11 section (c) of this section.’’.

12 (5) Subsection (e) is repealed.

13 (6) Subsection (f) is amended by inserting

14 ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(f)’’ and by adding the following at the

15 end thereof:

16 ‘‘(2) Within 7 days after the commencement of each

17 fiscal year after the disposal of the facilities referred to

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

19 $2,000,000 (or such lesser sum as the Secretary deems

20 necessary to carry out this Act during such fiscal year)

21 shall be paid to the Treasury and credited as provided in

22 paragraph (1). Upon repayment of all amounts referred

23 to in subsection (c), the fund established under this sec24 tion shall be terminated and all moneys received under this
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1 Act shall be deposited in the Treasury as General Reve2 nues.’’.

3 SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

4 Section 8 is amended to read as follows:

5 ‘‘SEC. 8. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

6 ‘‘(a) REVIEW OF RESERVES.—Not later than Janu7 ary 1, 2014 the Secretary shall review the known helium

8 reserves in the United States and make a determination

9 as to the expected life of the domestic helium reserves

10 (other than federally owned helium stored at the Cliffside

11 Reservoir) at that time.

12 ‘‘(b) RESERVES BELOW 1 BCF IN 2014.—Not later

13 than January 1, 2014, if the Secretary determines that

14 domestic helium reserves (other than federally owned he15 lium stored at the Cliffside Reservoir) are less than 1 bil16 lion cubic feet (bcf), the Secretary shall commence making

17 sales of crude helium from helium reserves owned by the

18 United States in such amounts as may be necessary to

19 dispose of all such helium reserves in excess of 600 million

20 cubic feet (mcf) by January 1, 2019. The sales shall be

21 at such times and in such lots as the Secretary determines,

22 in consultation with the helium industry, necessary to

23 carry out this subsection. The price for all such sales, as

24 determined by the Secretary in consultation with the he25 lium industry, shall be such as will ensure repayment of
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1 the amounts required to be repaid to the Treasury under

2 section 6(c) by the year 2019 with minimum market dis3 ruption. The date specified in this subsection for comple4 tion of such sales and for repayment of debt may be ex5 tended by the Secretary for a period of not to exceed 5

6 additional years if necessary in order to assure repayment

7 of such debt with minimum market disruption.

8 ‘‘(c) RESERVES ABOVE 1 BCF IN 2014.—Not later

9 than January 1, 2014, if the Secretary determines that

10 domestic helium reserves (other than federally owned he11 lium stored at the Cliffside Reservoir) are more than 1

12 billion cubic feet (bcf), the Secretary shall commence mak13 ing sales of crude helium from helium reserves owned by

14 the United States in such amounts as may be necessary

15 to dispose of all such helium reserves in excess of 600 mil16 lion cubic feet (mcf) by January 1, 2024. The sales shall

17 be at such times and in such lots as the Secretary deter18 mines, in consultation with the helium industry, necessary

19 to carry out this subsection with minimum disruption of

20 the market for crude helium.

21 ‘‘(d) DISCOVERY OF ADDITIONAL RESERVES.—The

22 discovery of additional helium reserves after the year 2014

23 shall not affect the duty of the Secretary to make sales

24 of helium as provided in subsection (b) or (c), as the case

25 may be.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.

2 Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.

Æ