[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 846 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 846

  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

                            February 7, 1995

 Mr. Cremeans introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on 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 Representatives 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 
1995''.
    (b) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the United States Government's helium recovery program 
        was instituted in 1925, when helium conservation was deemed to 
        be a matter of national security and no private sector helium 
        recovery industry 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 increase 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 
        interest alone, and there is no prospect for repayment of this 
        debt without significant reform; and
            (7) with combined public and private helium reserves 
        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 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 1995 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 1995, 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 1995, 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 1995, 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 or any equipment 
needed to maintain 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 
enactment of the Helium Act of 1995 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, 
1994 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, 
        1994.''.
            (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.--The Secretary shall review 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.
    ``(b) Stockpile Sales.--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 minimum annual amounts as 
would be necessary to dispose of all such helium reserves in excess of 
600,000,000 cubic feet (mcf) on a straight-line basis between such date 
and January 1, 2015; provided that the minimum 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), and provided 
further that the minimum annual sales requirement may be deferred only 
if, and to the extent that, the Secretary is unable to arrange sales at 
the minimum price. The sales shall be at such times during each year 
and in such lots as the Secretary determines, in consultation with the 
helium industry, are necessary to carry out this subsection with 
minimum market disruption.
    ``(c) Discovery of Additional Reserves.--The discovery of 
additional helium reserves shall not affect the duty of the Secretary 
to make sales of helium as provided in subsection (b), as the case may 
be.''.

SEC. 6. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.

    Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.

SEC. 7. REPORTS.

    Section 16 is amended by redesignating existing section 16 as 
section 16(a) and inserting the following at the end thereof:
    ``(b)(1) The Inspector General of the Department of the Interior 
shall cause to be prepared, not later than March 31 following each 
fiscal year commencing with the date of enactment of the Helium Act of 
1995, annual financial statements for the Helium Operations of the 
Bureau of Mines. The Director of the Bureau of Mines shall cooperate 
with the Inspector General in fulfilling this requirement, and shall 
provide him with such personnel and accounting assistance as may be 
necessary for that purpose. The financial statements shall be audited 
by the General Accounting Office, and a report on such audit shall be 
delivered by the General Accounting Office to the Secretary of the 
Interior and Congress, not later than June 30 following the end of the 
fiscal year for which they are prepared. The audit shall be prepared in 
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
    ``(2) The financial statements shall be comprised of the following:
            ``(A) A balance sheet reflecting the overall financial 
        position of the Helium Operations, including assets and 
        liabilities thereof;
            ``(B) the Statement of Operations, reflecting the fiscal 
        period results of the Helium Operations;
            ``(C) a statement of cash flows or changes in financial 
        position of the Helium Operations; and
            ``(D) a reconciliation of budget reports of the Helium 
        Operations.
    ``(3) The Statement of Operations shall include but not be limited 
to the revenues from, and costs of, sales of crude helium, the storage 
and transportation of crude helium, the production, refining and 
marketing of refined helium, and the maintenance and operation of 
helium storage facilities at the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field. The 
term `revenues' for this purpose shall exclude (A) royalties paid to 
the United States for production of helium or other extraction of 
resources, except to the extent that the Helium Operations incur direct 
costs in connection therewith, and (B) proceeds from sales of assets 
other than inventory. The term `expenses' shall include, but not be 
limited to (i) all labor costs of the Bureau of Mines Helium 
Operations, and of the Department of the Interior in connection 
therewith, and (ii) for financial reporting purposes but not in 
connection with the determination of sales prices in section 6(c), all 
current-period interest on outstanding repayable amounts (as described 
in section 6(c)) calculated at the same rates as such interest was 
calculated prior to the enactment of the Helium Act of 1995.
    ``(4) The balance sheet shall include, but not be limited to, on 
the asset side, the present discounted market value of crude helium 
reserves; and on the liability side, the accrued liability for 
principal and interest on debt to the United States. For financial 
reporting purposes but not in connection with the determination of 
sales prices in section 6(c), the balance sheet shall also include 
accrued but unpaid interest on outstanding repayable amounts (as 
described in section 6(c)) through the date of the report, calculated 
at the same rates as such interest was calculated prior to the 
enactment of the Helium Act of 1995.''.
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