II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 738

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 1, 1995

Mr. THOMAS (for himself, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr. HELMS, Mr. LAUTENBERG,

Mr. GRAMS, and Mr. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 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 1995’’.

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.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter

10 into agreements with private parties for the recovery

11 and disposal of helium on Federal lands upon such

12 terms and conditions as the Secretary deems fair,

13 reasonable, and necessary.

14 ‘‘(2) LEASEHOLD RIGHTS.—The Secretary may

15 grant leasehold rights to any such helium.

16 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not

17 enter into any agreement by which the Secretary

18 sells such helium other than to a private party with

19 whom the Secretary has an agreement for recovery

20 and disposal of helium.

21 ‘‘(4) REGULATIONS.—Agreements under para22 graph (1) may be subject to such regulations as may

23 be prescribed by the Secretary.

24 ‘‘(5) EXISTING RIGHTS.—An agreement under

25 paragraph (1) shall be subject to any rights of any
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1 affected Federal oil and gas lessee that may be in

2 existence prior to the date of the agreement.

3 ‘‘(6) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—An agreement

4 under paragraph (1) (and any extension or renewal

5 of an agreement) shall contain such terms and con6 ditions as the Secretary may consider appropriate.

7 ‘‘(7) PRIOR AGREEMENTS.—This subsection

8 shall not in any manner affect or diminish the rights

9 and obligations of the Secretary and private parties

10 under agreements to dispose of helium produced

11 from Federal lands in existence on the date of enact12 ment of the Helium Act of 1995 except to the extent

13 that such agreements are renewed or extended after

14 that date.

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

16 Secretary may store, transport, and sell helium only in ac17 cordance with this Act.

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

19 may monitor helium production and helium reserves in the

20 United States and periodically prepare reports regarding

21 the amounts of helium produced and the quantity of crude

22 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 Sec4 retary may store and transport crude helium and maintain

5 and operate crude helium storage facilities, in existence

6 on the date of enactment of the Helium Act of 1995 at

7 the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field, and related helium

8 transportation and withdrawal facilities.

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

10 MARKETING.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en11 actment of the Helium Act of 1995, the Secretary shall

12 cease producing, refining, and marketing refined helium

13 and shall cease carrying out all other activities relating

14 to helium which the Secretary was authorized to carry out

15 under this Act before the date of enactment of the Helium

16 Act of 1995, except activities described in subsection (a).

17 ‘‘(c) DISPOSAL OF FACILITIES.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (5),

19 not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of

20 the Helium Act of 1995, the Secretary shall dispose

21 of all facilities, equipment, and other real and per22 sonal property, and all interests therein, held by the

23 United States for the purpose of producing, refining

24 and marketing refined helium.

25 ‘‘(2) APPLICABLE LAW.—The disposal of such

26 property shall be in accordance with the law govern-
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1 ing the disposal of excess or surplus properties of

2 the United States.

3 ‘‘(3) PROCEEDS.—All proceeds accruing to the

4 United States by reason of the sale or other disposal

5 of such property shall be treated as moneys received

6 under this chapter for purposes of section 6(f).

7 ‘‘(4) COSTS.—All costs associated with such

8 sale and disposal (including costs associated with

9 termination of personnel) and with the cessation of

10 activities under subsection (b) shall be paid from

11 amounts available in the helium production fund es12 tablished under section 6(f).

13 ‘‘(5) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not

14 apply to any facilities, equipment, or other real or

15 personal property, or any interest therein, necessary

16 for the storage and transportation of crude helium.

17 ‘‘(d) EXISTING CONTRACTS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All contracts that were en19 tered into by any person with the Secretary for the

20 purchase by the person from the Secretary of refined

21 helium and that are in effect on the date of the en22 actment of the Helium Act of 1995 shall remain in

23 force and effect until the date on which the facilities

24 described in subsection (c) are disposed of.
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1 ‘‘(2) COSTS.—Any costs associated with the ter2 mination of contracts described in paragraph (1)

3 shall be paid from the helium production fund estab4 lished under section 6(f).

5 ‘‘SEC. 5. FEES FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND WITH6 DRAWAL.

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whenever the Secretary provides

8 helium storage, withdrawal, or transportation services to

9 any person, the Secretary shall impose a fee on the person

10 to reimburse the Secretary for the full costs of providing

11 such storage, transportation, and withdrawal.

12 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT.—All fees received by the Secretary

13 under subsection (a) shall be treated as moneys received

14 under this Act for purposes of section 6(f).’’.

15 SEC. 4. SALE OF CRUDE HELIUM.

16 Section 6 is amended—

17 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘from the Sec18 retary’’ and inserting ‘‘from persons who have en19 tered into enforceable contracts to purchase an

20 equivalent amount of crude helium from the Sec21 retary’’;

22 (2) in subsection (b)—

23 (A) by inserting ‘‘crude’’ before ‘‘helium’’;

24 and
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1 (B) by adding the following at the end:

2 ‘‘Except as may be required by reason of sub3 section (a), sales of crude helium under this

4 section shall be in amounts as the Secretary de5 termines, in consultation with the helium indus6 try, necessary to carry out this subsection with

7 minimum market disruption.’’;

8 (3) in subsection (c)—

9 (A) by inserting ‘‘crude’’ after ‘‘Sales of’’;

10 and

11 (B) by striking ‘‘together with interest as

12 provided in this subsection’’ and all that follows

13 through the end of the subsection and inserting

14 ‘‘all funds required to be repaid to the United

15 States as of October 1, 1994 under this section

16 (referred to in this subsection as ‘repayable

17 amounts’). The price at which crude helium is

18 sold by the Secretary shall not be less than the

19 amount determined by the Secretary as follows:

20 ‘‘(1) Divide the outstanding amount of such re21 payable amounts by the volume (in million cubic

22 feet) of crude helium owned by the United States

23 and stored in the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field at

24 the time of the 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, 1994.’’;

4 (4) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the

5 following:

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).’’;

12 (5) by striking subsection (e); and

13 (6) in subsection (f)—

14 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(f)’’; and

15 (B) by adding the following at the end:

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

17 each fiscal year after the disposal of the facilities referred

18 to 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).

23 ‘‘(B) On repayment of all amounts referred to in sub24 section (c), the fund established under this section shall
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1 be terminated and all moneys received under this Act shall

2 be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury.’’.

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.—The Secretary shall re7 view annually the known helium reserves in the United

8 States and make a determination as to the expected life

9 of the domestic helium reserves (other than federally

10 owned helium stored at the Cliffside Reservoir) at that

11 time.

12 ‘‘(b) STOCKPILE SALES.—

13 ‘‘(1) COMMENCEMENT.—Not later than Janu14 ary 1, 2005, the Secretary shall commence offering

15 for sale crude helium from helium reserves owned by

16 the United States in such amounts as may be nec17 essary to dispose of all such helium reserves in ex18 cess of 600,000,000 cubic feet by January 1, 2015.

19 ‘‘(2) TIMES OF SALE.—The sales shall be at

20 such times during each year and in such lots as the

21 Secretary determines, in consultation with the he22 lium industry, to be necessary to carry out this sub23 section with minimum market disruption.

24 ‘‘(3) PRICE.—The price for all sales under

25 paragraph (1), as determined by the Secretary in
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1 consultation with the helium industry, shall be such

2 price as will ensure repayment of the amounts re3 quired to be repaid to the Treasury under section

4 6(c).

5 ‘‘(c) DISCOVERY OF ADDITIONAL RESERVES.—The

6 discovery of additional helium reserves shall not affect the

7 duty of the Secretary to make sales of helium under sub8 section (b).’’.

9 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.

10 Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.

Æ