II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 898

To amend the Helium Act to cease operation of the Government helium

refinery, authorize facility and crude helium disposal, and cancel the

helium debt; and for related purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 8 (legislative day, JUNE 5), 1995

Mr. MURKOWSKI (by request) 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 cease operation of the Government helium refinery, authorize facility and crude helium

disposal, and cancel the helium debt; and for related

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 Disposal Act

5 of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF HELIUM ACT.

7 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in

8 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms
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1 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi2 sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a

3 section or other provision of the Helium Act, as amended

4 (50 U.S.C. 167 to 167n).

5 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

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

7 ‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

8 ‘‘(a) EXTRACTION, DISPOSAL, AND SALE OF HELIUM

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

10 agreements with private parties for the recovery, disposal,

11 and sale of helium on Federal lands upon such terms and

12 conditions as he deems fair, reasonable, and necessary. All

13 money received by the Secretary from the sale, extraction,

14 or other disposition of helium on Federal lands, including

15 money received under contractual arrangements executed

16 before the effective date of this Act, shall be deposited to

17 the general fund of the Treasury.

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

19 subject to the existing rights of any affected Federal oil

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

21 or renewal thereof) shall contain such terms and condi22 tions as deemed appropriate by the Secretary.

23 ‘‘(3) PRIOR AGREEMENTS.—This subsection shall not

24 in any manner affect or diminish the rights and obliga25 tions of the Secretary and private parties under agree-
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1 ments to dispose of helium produced from Federal lands

2 in existence on the date of enactment of the Helium Dis3 posal Act of 1995 except to the extent that such agree4 ments are renewed or extended after that date.

5 ‘‘(4) REGULATIONS.—Agreements under this sub6 section may be subject to such regulations as may be pre7 scribed by the Secretary.

8 ‘‘(b) HELIUM ON PUBLIC DOMAIN.—Any known he9 lium-gas-bearing land on the public domain not covered

10 at the time by leases or permits under the Mineral Lands

11 Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended, may be

12 reserved for the purposes of this Act, and any reservation

13 of the ownership of helium may include the right to ex14 tract, or have extracted, such helium, under such rules and

15 regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary, from

16 all gas produced from lands so permitted, leased, or other17 wise granted for development, except that in the extraction

18 of helium from gas produced from such lands, it shall be

19 extracted so as to cause no delay, except that required by

20 the extraction process, in the delivery of gas produced

21 from the well to the purchaser or purchasers thereof at

22 the point of delivery specified in contracts for the purchase

23 of such gas.
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1 ‘‘(c) STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND SALE.—The

2 Secretary is authorized to store, transport, and sell or oth3 erwise dispose of helium only in accordance with this Act.

4 ‘‘(d) MONITORING AND REPORTING.—The Secretary

5 is authorized to monitor helium production and helium re6 serves and to prepare periodically reports regarding the

7 amounts of helium produced and the quality of crude he8 lium in storage.

9 ‘‘SEC. 4. STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND WITHDRAWAL

10 OF CRUDE HELIUM.

11 ‘‘(a) STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND WITH12 DRAWAL.—The Secretary is authorized to store, transport,

13 and withdraw crude helium and to maintain and operate

14 existing crude helium storage at the United States Bureau

15 of Mines Cliffside Field, together with related helium

16 transportation and withdrawal facilities only in accordance

17 with this Act.

18 ‘‘(b) FEES FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND

19 WITHDRAWAL.—Whenever the Secretary provides crude

20 helium storage, withdrawal, or transportation services to

21 any person, the Secretary is authorized to impose fees on

22 such person to reimburse the Secretary for the full costs

23 or market value, whichever is greater, of providing such

24 storage, transportation, and withdrawal services.
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1 ‘‘(c) HELIUM RESERVE MANAGEMENT FUND.—

2 There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United

3 States a revolving fund known as the Helium Reserve

4 Management Fund. The Secretary of the Interior is di5 rected to deposit in this fund all fees collected under sub6 section (b). This fund shall be available to the Secretary,

7 without further appropriation and without fiscal year limi8 tation, to cover the costs of this Act.

9 ‘‘SEC. 5. CESSATION OF CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.

10 ‘‘(a) CESSATION OF PRODUCTION, REFINING, AND

11 MARKETING.—Within three years after the date of enact12 ment of the Helium Disposal Act of 1995, the Secretary

13 shall cease producing, refining, and marketing refined he14 lium.

15 ‘‘(b) DISPOSAL OF FACILITIES.—(1) Within two

16 years after the cessation of activities referred to in sub17 section (a) of this section, the Secretary shall designate

18 as excess property the facilities, equipment, and other real

19 and personal property, together with all interests therein,

20 held by the United States for the purpose of producing,

21 refining, and marketing refined helium. The disposal of

22 such property shall be in accordance with the Federal

23 Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949.

24 ‘‘(2) Proceeds from the asset sale described in para25 graph (1) shall be paid to the general fund of the Treas-
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1 ury. If the President so designates, the net proceeds shall

2 be included in the budget baseline required by the Bal3 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985

4 (the Act) and shall be counted for the purposes of section

5 252 of the Act as an offset to direct spending notwith6 standing section 257(e) of the Act.

7 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to

8 any facilities, equipment, or other real or personal prop9 erty, or any interest therein, necessary for the storage and

10 transportation of crude helium or any equipment needed

11 to maintain the purity, quality control, and quality assur12 ance of helium in the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field.

13 ‘‘(c) EXISTING CONTRACTS.—All contracts which

14 were entered into by any person with the Secretary for

15 the purchase by such person from the Secretary of refined

16 helium and which are in effect on the date of the enact17 ment of the Helium Disposal Act of 1995 shall remain

18 in force and effect no longer than the date on which ces19 sation of activities referred to in subsection (a) of this sec20 tion occurs. Any costs associated with the termination of

21 such contracts shall be paid from the Helium Production

22 Fund. Any associated costs that may arise after the abol23 ishment of the Helium Production Fund shall be paid

24 from the Helium Reserve Management Fund established

25 by section 4(c).’’.
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1 SEC. 4. DISPOSAL OF CRUDE HELIUM.

2 Section 6 is amended to read as follows:

3 ‘‘SEC. 6. DISPOSAL OF CRUDE HELIUM.

4 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY FOR SALE OF CRUDE HELIUM.—

5 The Secretary is directed to make sales of crude helium

6 to reduce the helium reserves owned by the United States,

7 consistent with section 8 of this Act.

8 ‘‘(b) TERMS OF SALE OF CRUDE HELIUM.—Sales of

9 crude helium under this section shall be in such quantities,

10 under such terms and conditions, and at such prices to

11 cover, at a minimum, all costs in carrying out the provi12 sions of this Act, and shall on an annual basis at least

13 be a volume equivalent to the amount of refined helium

14 purchased by the Federal Government unless the Sec15 retary determines and notifies the Congress in writing

16 that such sales will unduly disrupt the usual markets of

17 producers, processors, and consumers of helium and will

18 not protect the United States against avoidable loss.

19 ‘‘(c) ABOLISH HELIUM PRODUCTION FUND.—The

20 Helium Production Fund, established by this section as

21 it read prior to the amendment effected by this Act, shall

22 continue to exist until the completion of the disposal of

23 facilities, equipment, and other real and personal property

24 under section 5(b)(1) of this Act, at which time the fund

25 shall be abolished. All money in the Helium Production
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1 Fund at that time shall be transferred to the general fund

2 of the United States Treasury.

3 ‘‘(d) CRUDE HELIUM SALES PROCEEDS.—Proceeds

4 from the sale of crude helium described in subsection (b)

5 and in section 8(a) shall be credited to the Helium Produc6 tion Fund until such fund is abolished pursuant to sub7 section (c). Upon abolishment of the fund, the proceeds

8 from the sale of crude helium shall be deposited in the

9 general fund of the United States Treasury, except that

10 the Secretary may retain proceeds, not to exceed

11 $5,000,000 annually, to cover the costs of crude helium

12 disposal as provided by this Act. Amounts retained by the

13 Secretary shall be deposited in the Helium Reserve Man14 agement and remain available without further appropria15 tion or fiscal year limitation.

16 ‘‘(e) ASSET SALE WAIVER.—If the President so des17 ignates, proceeds from the asset sale described in para18 graph (b) shall be included in the budget baseline required

19 by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control

20 Act of 1985 (the Act) and shall be counted for the pur21 poses of section 252 as an offset to direct spending not22 withstanding section 257(e) of the Act.

23 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Upon the abolishment

24 of the Helium Production Fund pursuant to subsection

25 (c), the Secretary shall submit to the House Committee
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1 on Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and

2 Natural Resources a report specifying the current and

3 projected costs for the disposal of crude helium reserves

4 and the current and projected receipts from such dis5 posal.’’.

6 SEC. 5. CANCELLATION OF HELIUM DEBT.

7 The Secretary of the Treasury shall cancel the inter8 est accrued and unpaid as well as the outstanding prin9 cipal of all notes issued by the Secretary pursuant to sec10 tion 12 of the Helium Act and also cancel the outstanding

11 interest accrued and unpaid as well as the principal of the

12 net capital and retained earnings debt of the Helium Pro13 duction Fund established pursuant to section 6 of the He14 lium Act Amendments of 1960 (Public Law 86–777).

15 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF COOPERATIVE AUTHORITY.

16 Section 7 is repealed.

17 SEC. 7. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

18 Section 8 is amended to read as follows:

19 ‘‘SEC. 8. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

20 ‘‘(a) STOCKPILE SALES.—Not later than January 1,

21 1996, the Secretary shall commence making sales of crude

22 helium from helium reserves owned by the United States

23 and stored in the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field, in such

24 amounts as may be necessary to dispose of all such helium

25 reserves in excess of an amount determined to be in the
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1 national interest by the Secretary by January 1, 2020.

2 The sales shall be at such times and in such lots as the

3 Secretary determines in consultation with the helium in4 dustry and may be made by contract or other investment

5 instrument. The price for all such sales, as determined by

6 the Secretary in consultation with the helium industry,

7 shall be comparable to prices for helium sold by private

8 industry. An annual review of price comparability shall be

9 made by the Secretary. Price adjustments by the Sec10 retary shall be made accordingly to protect the interests

11 of the United States.

12 ‘‘(b) DISCOVERY OF ADDITIONAL RESERVES.—The

13 discovery of additional helium reserves shall not affect the

14 duty of the Secretary to make sales of helium as provided

15 in subsection (a) of this section, as the case may be.’’.

16 SEC. 8. REPEAL OF ADMINISTRATION AND OTHER AU17 THORITIES.

18 Sections 10 through 17 are repealed.

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