I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4919
To amend the Helium Act to require the Secretary of the Interior to sell
Federal real and personal property held in connection with activities
carried out under the Helium Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 8, 1994
Mr. COX (for himself and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Helium Act to require the Secretary of the
Interior to sell Federal real and personal property held
in connection with activities carried out under the
Helium Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND FINDINGS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Helium Act of 1994’’.
(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) the United States Government’s helium re-
covery program was instituted in 1925, when helium
conservation was deemed to be a matter of national
security and no private sector helium recovery indus-
try existed;
(2) today, as compared to 1925, there is little
likelihood that the United States will have to field a
fleet of blimps on an emergency basis;
(3) private sources of helium are more than
adequate for serving existing and foreseeable future
national needs;
(4) since 1925, there has been a dramatic in-
crease in private industry’s involvement in helium
recovery, as a result of the free market discovery of
numerous commercial uses for helium;
(5) currently, private industry accounts for 90
percent of all helium extraction and consumption;
(6) the Government’s helium recovery program
currently owes the Department of the Treasury
$1,400,000,000 and in recent years has lost as
much as an additional $120,000,000 yearly on inter-
est alone, and there is no prospect for repayment of
this debt without significant reform; and
(7) with combined public and private helium re-
serves considerably in excess of foreseeable national
helium needs, there is no longer any need for the
Federal Government to own and operate a helium
extraction and reserve program.
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 provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a
section or other provision of the Helium Act (50 U.S.C.
167 to 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) The Secretary may enter into
agreements with private parties for the recovery and dis-
posal of helium on Federal lands upon such terms and
conditions as he deems fair, reasonable and necessary. The
Secretary may grant leasehold rights to any such helium.
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 re-
covery and disposal of helium. Such agreements may be
subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed
by the Secretary.
‘‘(2) Any agreement under this subsection shall be
subject to the existing rights of any affected Federal oil
and gas lessee. Each such agreement (and any extension
or renewal thereof) shall contain such terms and condi-
tions as deemed appropriate by the Secretary.
‘‘(3) 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 pro-
duced from Federal lands in existence at the enactment
of the Helium Act of 1994 except to the extent that such
agreements are renewed or extended after such date.
‘‘(b) STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND SALE.—The
Secretary is authorized to store, transport, and sell helium
only in accordance with this Act.
‘‘(c) MONITORING AND REPORTING.—The Secretary
is authorized to monitor helium production and helium re-
serves in the United States and to periodically prepare re-
ports regarding the amounts of helium produced and the
quantity of crude helium in storage in the United States.
‘‘SEC. 4. STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF CRUDE
HELIUM.
‘‘(a) STORAGE
AND TRANSPORTATION.—The Sec-
retary is authorized to store and transport crude helium
and to maintain and operate existing crude helium storage
at the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field, together with relat-
ed helium transportation and withdrawal facilities.
‘‘(b) CESSATION OF PRODUCTION, REFINING, AND
MARKETING.—Effective one year after the date of enact-
ment of the Helium Act of 1994, the Secretary shall cease
producing, refining and marketing refined helium and
shall cease carrying out all other activities relating to he-
lium which the Secretary was authorized to carry out
under this Act before the date of enactment of the Helium
Act of 1994, except those activities described in subsection
(a). The amount of helium reserves owned by the United
States and stored in the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field
at such date of cessation, less 600,000,000 cubic feet,
shall be the helium reserves owned by the United States
required to be sold pursuant to section 8(b) hereof.
‘‘(c) DISPOSAL OF FACILITIES.—(1) Within one year
after the date of enactment of the Helium Act of 1994,
the Secretary shall dispose of all facilities, equipment, and
other real and personal property, together with all inter-
ests therein, held by the United States for the purpose
of producing, refining and marketing refined helium. The
disposal of such property shall be in accordance with the
provisions of law governing the disposal of excess or sur-
plus properties of the United States.
‘‘(2) 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 pur-
poses of section 6(f). 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).
‘‘(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any facilities,
equipment, or other real or personal property, or any in-
terest therein, necessary for the storage and transpor-
tation of crude helium or any equipment needed to main-
tain the purity, quality control, and quality assurance of
helium in the reserve.
‘‘(d) EXISTING CONTRACTS.—All contracts which
were entered into by any person with the Secretary for
the purchase by such person from the Secretary of refined
helium and which are in effect on the date of the enact-
ment of the Helium Act of 1994 shall remain in force and
effect until the date on which the facilities referred to in
subsection (c) are disposed of. Any costs associated with
the termination of such contracts shall be paid from the
helium production fund established under section 6(f).
‘‘SEC. 5. FEES FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND WITH-
DRAWAL.
‘‘Whenever the Secretary provides helium storage,
withdrawal, or transportation services to any person, the
Secretary is authorized and directed to impose fees on
such person to reimburse the Secretary for the full costs
of providing such storage, transportation, and withdrawal.
All such fees received by the Secretary shall be treated
as moneys received under this Act for purposes of section
6(f).’’.
SEC. 4. SALE OF CRUDE HELIUM.
Section 6 is amended as follows:
(1) Subsection (a) is amended by striking out
‘‘from the Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘from persons
who have entered into enforceable contracts to pur-
chase an equivalent amount of crude helium from
the Secretary’’.
(2) Subsection (b) is amended by inserting
‘‘crude’’ before ‘‘helium’’ and by adding the follow-
ing at the end thereof: ‘‘Except as may be required
by reason of subsection (a), the Secretary shall not
make sales of crude helium under this section in
such amounts as will disrupt the market price of
crude helium.’’.
(3) Subsection (c) is amended by inserting
‘‘crude’’ before ‘‘helium’’ after the words ‘‘Sales of’’
and by striking ‘‘together with interest as provided
in this subsection’’ and all that follows down
through the period at the end of such subsection and
inserting the following:
‘‘all funds required to be repaid to the United States as
of October 1, 1993 under this section (hereinafter referred
to as ‘repayable amounts’). The price at which crude he-
lium is sold by the Secretary shall not be less than the
amount determined by the Secretary as follows:
‘‘(1) Divide the outstanding amount of such re-
payable amounts by the volume (in mcf) of crude he-
lium owned by the United States and stored in the
Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field at the time of the
sale concerned.
‘‘(2) Adjust the amount determined under para-
graph (1) by the Consumer Price Index for years be-
ginning after December 31, 1993.’’.
(4) Subsection (d) is amended to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(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 sub-
section (c) of this section.’’.
(5) Subsection (e) is repealed.
(6) Subsection (f) is amended by inserting
‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(f)’’ and by adding the following at the
end thereof:
‘‘(2) Within 7 days after the commencement of each
fiscal year after the disposal of the facilities referred to
in section 4(c), 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). Upon repayment of all amounts referred
to in subsection (c), the fund established under this sec-
tion shall be terminated and all moneys received under this
Act shall be deposited in the Treasury as General Reve-
nues.’’.
SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.
Section 8 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 8. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.
‘‘(a) REVIEW OF RESERVES.—The Secretary shall re-
view annually the known helium reserves in the United
States and make a determination as to the expected life
of the domestic helium reserves (other than federally
owned helium stored at the Cliffside Reservoir) at that
time.