[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3967 Introduced in House (IH)]
103d CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3967
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.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 8, 1994
Mr. Lehman (for himself, Mrs. Vucanovich, and Mr. Miller of California)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources
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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.
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 Act of 1994''.
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 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 disposal 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
recovery 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 conditions 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 produced 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 reserves in the United States and
to periodically prepare reports 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 Secretary 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 related helium transportation and withdrawal facilities.
``(b) Cessation of Production, Refining, and Marketing.--Effective
one year after the date of enactment 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 helium
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).
``(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 interests 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 surplus 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 purposes 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 interest therein, necessary
for the storage and transportation of crude helium.
``(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
enactment 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 WITHDRAWAL.
``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 purchase an equivalent amount of crude
helium from the Secretary''.
(2) Subsection (b) is amended by inserting ``crude'' before
``helium'' and by adding the following 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 helium 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 repayable
amounts by the volume (in mcf) of crude helium 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 paragraph (1) by
the Consumer Price Index for years beginning after December 31,
1993.''.
(4) Subsection (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) 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 section shall be terminated and
all moneys received under this Act shall be deposited in the Treasury
as General Revenues.''.
SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.
Section 8 is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 8. ELIMINATION OF STOCKPILE.
``(a) Review of Reserves.--Not later than January 1, 2014 the
Secretary shall review 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.
``(b) Reserves Below 1 BCF in 2014.--Not later than January 1,
2014, if the Secretary determines that domestic helium reserves (other
than federally owned helium stored at the Cliffside Reservoir) are less
than 1 billion cubic feet (bcf), the Secretary shall commence making
sales of crude helium from helium reserves owned by the United States
in such amounts as may be necessary to dispose of all such helium
reserves in excess of 600 million cubic feet (mcf) by January 1, 2019.
The sales shall be at such times and in such lots as the Secretary
determines, in consultation with the helium industry, necessary to
carry out this subsection. The price for all such sales, as determined
by the Secretary in consultation with the helium industry, shall be
such as will ensure repayment of the amounts required to be repaid to
the Treasury under section 6(c) by the year 2019 with minimum market
disruption. The date specified in this subsection for completion of
such sales and for repayment of debt may be extended by the Secretary
for a period of not to exceed 5 additional years if necessary in order
to assure repayment of such debt with minimum market disruption.
``(c) Reserves Above 1 BCF in 2014.--Not later than January 1,
2014, if the Secretary determines that domestic helium reserves (other
than federally owned helium stored at the Cliffside Reservoir) are more
than 1 billion cubic feet (bcf), the Secretary shall commence making
sales of crude helium from helium reserves owned by the United States
in such amounts as may be necessary to dispose of all such helium
reserves in excess of 600 million cubic feet (mcf) by January 1, 2024.
The sales shall be at such times and in such lots as the Secretary
determines, in consultation with the helium industry, necessary to
carry out this subsection with minimum disruption of the market for
crude helium.
``(d) Discovery of Additional Reserves.--The discovery of
additional helium reserves after the year 2014 shall not affect the
duty of the Secretary to make sales of helium as provided in subsection
(b) or (c), as the case may be.''.
SEC. 6. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.
Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.
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