H. R. 4168

One Hundred Fourth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,

the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six

An Act

To amend the Helium Act to authorize the Secretary to enter into agreements

with private parties for the recovery and disposal of helium on Federal lands,

and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helium Privatization Act of

1996’’.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF HELIUM ACT.

Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act

an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment

to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall

be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the

Helium Act (50 U.S.C. 167–167n).

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

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

‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.

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

LANDS.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter into agreements with private parties for the recovery and disposal of

helium on Federal lands upon such terms and conditions as

the Secretary deems fair, reasonable, and necessary.

‘‘(2) LEASEHOLD RIGHTS.—The Secretary may grant leasehold rights to any such helium.

‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not enter into any

agreement by which the Secretary sells such helium other

than to a private party with whom the Secretary has an agreement for recovery and disposal of helium.

‘‘(4) REGULATIONS.—Agreements under paragraph (1) may

be subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the

Secretary.

‘‘(5) EXISTING RIGHTS.—An agreement under paragraph (1)

shall be subject to any rights of any affected Federal oil and

gas lessee that may be in existence prior to the date of the

agreement.

‘‘(6) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—An agreement under paragraph (1) (and any extension or renewal of an agreement)

shall contain such terms and conditions as the Secretary may

consider appropriate.
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‘‘(7) PRIOR AGREEMENTS.—This subsection shall not in any

manner affect or diminish the rights and obligations of the

Secretary and private parties under agreements to dispose of

helium produced from Federal lands in existence on the date

of enactment of the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 except

to the extent that such agreements are renewed or extended

after that date.

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

store, transport, and sell helium only in accordance with this Act.

‘‘SEC. 4. STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND WITHDRAWAL OF CRUDE

HELIUM.

‘‘(a) STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION, AND WITHDRAWAL.—The

Secretary may store, transport, and withdraw crude helium and

maintain and operate crude helium storage facilities, in existence

on the date of enactment of the Helium Privatization Act of 1996

at the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field, and related helium transportation and withdrawal facilities.

‘‘(b) CESSATION OF PRODUCTION, REFINING, AND MARKETING.—

Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of the Helium

Privatization Act of 1996, the Secretary shall cease producing, refining, and marketing refined helium and shall cease carrying out

all other activities relating to helium which the Secretary was

authorized to carry out under this Act before the date of enactment

of the Helium Privatization Act of 1996, except activities described

in subsection (a).

‘‘(c) DISPOSAL OF FACILITIES.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (5), not later than

24 months after the cessation of activities referred to in subsection (b) of this section, the Secretary shall designate as

excess property and dispose of all facilities, equipment, and

other real and personal property, and all interests therein,

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

and marketing refined helium.

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

be in accordance with the Federal Property and Administrative

Services Act of 1949.

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

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

be treated as moneys received under this chapter for purposes

of section 6(f).

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

disposal (including costs associated with termination of personnel) and with the cessation of activities under subsection (b)

shall be paid from amounts available in the helium production

fund established under section 6(f).

‘‘(5) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any

facilities, equipment, or other real or personal property, or

any interest therein, necessary for the storage, transportation,

and withdrawal of crude helium or any equipment, facilities,

or other real or personal property, required to maintain the

purity, quality control, and quality assurance of crude helium

in the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field.

‘‘(d) EXISTING CONTRACTS.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All contracts that were entered into by

any person with the Secretary for the purchase by the person

from the Secretary of refined helium and that are in effect
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on the date of the enactment of the Helium Privatization Act

of 1996 shall remain in force and effect until the date on

which the refining operations cease, as described in subsection

(b).

‘‘(2) COSTS.—Any costs associated with the termination of

contracts described in paragraph (1) shall be paid from the

helium production fund established under section 6(f).

‘‘SEC. 5. FEES FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND WITHDRAWAL.

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

storage withdrawal or transportation services to any person, the

Secretary shall impose a fee on the person to reimburse the Secretary for the full costs of providing such storage, transportation,

and withdrawal.

‘‘(b) TREATMENT.—All fees received by the Secretary under subsection (a) shall be treated as moneys received under this Act

for purposes of section 6(f).’’.

SEC. 4. SALE OF CRUDE HELIUM.

(a) Subsection 6(a) is amended by striking ‘‘from the Secretary’’

and inserting ‘‘from persons who have entered into enforceable

contracts to purchase an equivalent amount of crude helium from

the Secretary’’.

(b) Subsection 6(b) is amended—

(1) by inserting ‘‘crude’’ before ‘‘helium’’; and

(2) by adding the following at the end: ‘‘Except as may

be required by reason of subsection (a), sales of crude helium

under this section shall be in amounts as the Secretary determines, in consultation with the helium industry, necessary

to carry out this subsection with minimum market disruption.’’.

(c) Subsection 6(c) is amended—

(1) by inserting ‘‘crude’’ after ‘‘Sales of’’; and

(2) by striking ‘‘together with interest as provided in this

subsection’’ and all that follows through the end of the subsection and inserting ‘‘all funds required to be repaid to the

United States as of October 1, 1995 under this section (referred

to in this subsection as ‘repayable amounts’). The price at

which crude helium is sold by the Secretary shall not be less

than the amount determined by the Secretary by—

‘‘(1) dividing the outstanding amount of such repayable

amounts by the volume (in million cubic feet) of crude helium

owned by the United States and stored in the Bureau of Mines

Cliffside Field at the time of the sale concerned, and

‘‘(2) adjusting the amount determined under paragraph

(1) by the Consumer Price Index for years beginning after

December 31, 1995.’’.

(d) Subsection 6(d) is amended to read as follows:

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

LANDS.—All moneys received by the Secretary from the sale or

disposition of helium on Federal lands shall be paid to the Treasury

and credited against the amounts required to be repaid to the

Treasury under subsection (c).’’.

(e) Subsection 6(e) is repealed.

(f) Subsection 6(f) is amended—

(1) by striking ‘‘(f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(e)(1)’’; and

(2) by adding the following at the end:

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

year after the disposal of the facilities referred to in section 4(c),
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all amounts in such fund in excess of $2,000,000 (or such lesser

sum as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out this Act during

such fiscal year) shall be paid to the Treasury and credited as

provided in paragraph (1).

‘‘(B) On repayment of all amounts referred to in subsection

(c), the fund established under this section shall be terminated

and all moneys received under this Act shall be deposited in the

general fund of the Treasury.’’.

SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

Section 8 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘SEC. 8. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.

‘‘(a) STOCKPILE SALES.—

‘‘(1) COMMENCEMENT.—Not later than January 1, 2005,

the Secretary shall commence offering for sale crude helium

from helium reserves owned by the United States in such

amounts as would be necessary to dispose of all such helium

reserves in excess of 600,000,000 cubic feet on a straightline basis between such date and January 1, 2015.

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

during each year and in such lots as the Secretary determines,

in consultation with the helium industry, to be necessary to

carry out this subsection with minimum market disruption.

‘‘(3) PRICE.—The price for all sales under paragraph (1),

as determined by the Secretary in consultation with the helium

industry, shall be such price as will ensure repayment of the

amounts required to be repaid to the Treasury under section

6(c).

‘‘(b) DISCOVERY OF ADDITIONAL RESERVES.—The discovery of

additional helium reserves shall not affect the duty of the Secretary

to make sales of helium under subsection (a).’’.

SEC. 6. LAND CONVEYANCE IN POTTER COUNTY, TEXAS.

Section 12 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘SEC. 12. LAND CONVEYANCE IN POTTER COUNTY, TEXAS.

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall transfer

all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the

parcel of land described in subsection (b) to the Texas Plains Girl

Scout Council for consideration of $1, reserving to the United States

such easements as may be necessary for pipeline rights-of-way.

‘‘(b) LAND DESCRIPTION.—The parcel of land referred to in subsection (a) is all those certain lots, tracts or parcels of land lying

and being situated in the County of Potter and State of Texas,

and being the East Three Hundred Thirty-One (E331) acres out

of Section Seventy-eight (78) in Block Nine (9), B.S. & F. Survey,

(some times known as the G.D. Landis pasture) Potter County,

Texas, located by certificate No. 1/39 and evidenced by letters

patents Nos. 411 and 412 issued by the State of Texas under

date of November 23, 1937, and of record in Vol. 66A of the Patent

Records of the State of Texas. The metes and bounds description

of such lands is as follows:

‘‘(1) FIRST TRACT.—One Hundred Seventy-one (171) acres

of land known as the North part of the East part of said

survey Seventy-eight (78) aforesaid, described by metes and

bounds as follows:
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‘‘Beginning at a stone 20 x 12 x 3 inches marked

X, set by W.D. Twichell in 1905, for the Northeast corner

of this survey and the Northwest corner of Section 59;

‘‘Thence, South 0 degrees 12 minutes East with the

West line of said Section 59, 999.4 varas to the Northeast

corner of the South 160 acres of East half of Section 78;

‘‘Thence, North 89 degrees 47 minutes West with the

North line of the South 150 acres of the East half, 956.8

varas to a point in the East line of the West half Section

78;

‘‘Thence, North 0 degrees 10 minutes West with the

East line of the West half 999.4 varas to a stone 18 x

14 x 3 inches in the middle of the South line of Section

79;

‘‘Thence, South 89 degrees 47 minutes East 965 varas

to the place of beginning.

‘‘(2) SECOND TRACT.—One Hundred Sixty (160) acres of

land known as the South part of the East part of said survey

No. Seventy-eight (78) described by metes and bounds as

follows:

‘‘Beginning at the Southwest corner of Section 59, a

stone marked X and a pile of stones; Thence, North 89

degrees 47 minutes West with the North line of Section

77, 966.5 varas to the Southeast corner of the West half

of Section 78; Thence, North 0 degrees 10 minutes West

with the East line of the West half of Section 78;

‘‘Thence, South 89 degrees 47 minutes East 965.8 varas

to a point in the East line of Section 78;

‘‘Thence, South 0 degrees 12 minutes East 934.6 varas

to the place of beginning.

‘‘Containing an area of 331 acres, more or less.’’.

SEC. 7. REPORT ON HELIUM.

Section 15 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘SEC. 15. REPORT ON HELIUM.

‘‘(a) NAS STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later than three years

before the date on which the Secretary commences offering for

sale crude helium under section 8, the Secretary shall enter into

appropriate arrangements with the National Academy of Sciences

to study and report on whether such disposal of helium reserves

will have a substantial adverse effect on United States scientific,

technical, biomedical, or national security interests.

‘‘(b) TRANSMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 months

before the date on which the Secretary commences offering for

sale crude helium under section 8, the Secretary shall transmit

to the Congress—

‘‘(1) the report of the National Academy under subsection

(a);

‘‘(2) the findings of the Secretary, after consideration of

the conclusions of the National Academy under subsection (a)

and after consultation with the United States helium industry

and with heads of affected Federal agencies, as to whether

the disposal of the helium reserve under section 8 will have

a substantial adverse effect on the United States helium industry, United States, helium market or United States, scientific,

technological, biomedical, or national security interests; and
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‘‘(3) if the Secretary determines that selling the crude

helium reserves under the formula established in section 8

will have a substantial adverse effect on the United States

helium industry, the United States helium market or United

States scientific, technological, biomedical, or national security

interest, the Secretary shall make recommendations, including

recommendations for proposed legislation, as may be necessary

to avoid such adverse effects.’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.