II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1226 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act and the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired 

Lands to promote a greater domestic helium supply, to establish a 

Federal helium leasing program for public land, and to secure a helium 

supply for national defense and Federal researchers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2015 

Ms. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act and the Mineral Leasing 

Act for Acquired Lands to promote a greater domestic 

helium supply, to establish a Federal helium leasing program for public land, and to secure a helium supply 

for national defense and Federal researchers, 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 ‘‘American Helium Pro5 duction Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREATION OF A HELIUM-LEASING PROGRAM. 

2 (a) ADDITION OF HELIUM TO LAND SUBJECT TO

3 DISPOSITION; REPEAL OF RESERVATION OF HELIUM

4 RIGHTS.—The first section of the Mineral Leasing Act 

5 (30 U.S.C. 181) is amended— 

6 (1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘helium 

7 or other’’ before ‘‘gas’’ each place it appears; and 

8 (2) by striking the flush text that follows the 

9 last undesignated subsection. 

10 (b) CREATION OF PROGRAM.—The Mineral Leasing 

11 Act is amended by inserting after section 37 (30 U.S.C. 

12 193) the following: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 38. HELIUM LEASING PROGRAM. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided in 

15 this section, the Secretary of the Interior may conduct a 

16 program of leasing Federal land for helium exploration, 

17 development, and production, in substantially the same 

18 manner, and under substantially the same terms and con19 ditions, as the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to 

20 lease Federal land for oil and gas exploration, develop21 ment, and production under this Act. 

22 ‘‘(b) RIGHTS TO HELIUM.—Any lease issued under 

23 this Act that authorizes exploration for, or development 

24 or production of, gas shall be considered to grant to the 

25 lessee a right of first refusal to engage in exploration for, 

26 and development and production of, helium on land that 


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1 is subject to the lease in accordance with regulations 

2 issued by the Secretary of the Interior. 

3 ‘‘(c) FEE.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

5 law, the Secretary of the Interior shall collect a sin6 gle $5,000 permit processing fee per application 

7 from each applicant at the time the final decision is 

8 made whether to issue a permit to drill under a he9 lium lease issued under this section. 

10 ‘‘(2) NO FEE FOR RESUBMITTED APPLICA11 TIONS.—The Secretary of the Interior shall not col12 lect the fee described in paragraph (1) for any re13 submitted application. 

14 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF PERMIT PROCESSING

15 FEE.—Of all fees collected under this subsection, 50 

16 percent shall be— 

17 ‘‘(A) transferred to the field office for the 

18 area in which the fees are collected; and 

19 ‘‘(B) used to process protests, leases, and 

20 permits under this Act, subject to appropria21 tions.’’. 

22 (c) RIGHTS TO HELIUM UNDER LEASES UNDER

23 MINERAL LEASING ACT FOR ACQUIRED LANDS.—The 

24 Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351 

25 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 12. RIGHTS TO HELIUM. 

2 ‘‘Any lease issued under this Act that authorizes ex3 ploration for, or development or production of, gas shall 

4 be considered to grant to the lessee a right of first refusal 

5 to engage in exploration for, and development and produc6 tion of, helium on land that is subject to the lease in ac7 cordance with regulations issued by the Secretary.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATE9 MENT. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior, act11 ing through the Director of the Bureau of Land Manage12 ment, shall prepare a programmatic environmental impact 

13 statement (referred to in this section as the ‘‘PEIS’’) 

14 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

15 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) for an agencywide helium exploration 

16 and development program under the Mineral Leasing Act 

17 (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.). 

18 (b) PROCESS.—In developing the PEIS, the Sec19 retary of the Interior takes into consideration the Helium 

20 Act (50 U.S.C. 167 et seq.). 

Æ 


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