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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All contracts that were en-
tered into by any person with the Secretary for the
purchase by the person from the Secretary of refined
helium and that are in effect on the date of the en-
actment 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 ter-
mination of contracts described in paragraph (1)
shall be paid from the helium production fund estab-
lished under section 6(f).
‘‘SEC. 5. FEES FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION AND WITH-
DRAWAL.
‘‘(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
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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 consulta-
tion 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 pro-
vided 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
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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 sub-
section (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), 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).
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‘‘(B) On repayment of all amounts referred to in sub-
section (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 Janu-
ary 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 nec-
essary to dispose of all such helium reserves in ex-
cess of 600,000,000 cubic feet on a straight-line
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 he-
lium industry, to be necessary to carry out this sub-
section 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 re-
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quired 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 sub-
section (a).’’.
SEC. 6. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.
Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.
SEC. 7. 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 re-
ferred 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
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in Vol. 66A of the Patent Records of the State of Texas.
The metes and bounds description of such lands is as fol-
lows:
(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) afore-
said, described by metes and bounds as follows:
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.
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(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 Sec-
tion 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 Sec-
tion 78; Thence, North 0 degrees 10 minutes
West with the East line of the West half of Sec-
tion 78;
Thence, South 89 degrees 47 minutes East
965.8 varas to a point in the East line of Sec-
tion 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. 8. REPORT ON HELIUM.
(a) 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 re-
serves will have a substantial adverse effect on United