[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4168 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
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.
``(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 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 Statesand 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), 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 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 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
amountsrequired 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:
``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
``(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.