[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 45 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 45

  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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 4, 1995

 Mr. Feingold introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the Helium Reform amd Deficit Reduction 
Act of 1995.

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) 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 he 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 Act of 1995 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.
    ``(c) Monitoring and Reporting.--The Secretary may monitor helium 
production and helium reserves in the United States and 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 may store and 
transport crude helium and maintain and operate crude helium storage 
facilities, in existence on the date of enactment of the Helium Act of 
1995 at the Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field, and related helium 
transportation and withdrawal facilities.
    ``(b) Cessation of Production, Refining, and Marketing.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 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).
            ``(2) Amount owned by the united states.--The amount of 
        helium reserves owned by the United States and stored in the 
        Bureau of Mines Cliffside Field at the date of cessation of 
        activities, 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).
    ``(c) Disposal of Facilities.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (5), not later than 
        1 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, 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 provisions of law governing the 
        disposal of excess or surplus properties of the United States.
            ``(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 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.--
            ``(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 Act of 1995 shall 
        remain in force and effect until the date on which the 
        facilities described in subsection (c) are disposed of.
            ``(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.

    Section 6 is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a) 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'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by inserting ``crude'' before ``helium''; and
                    (B) by adding the following at the end: ``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) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) by inserting ``crude'' after ``Sales of''; and
                    (B) by striking ``together with interest as 
                provided in this subsection'' and all that follows 
                through the end of such subsection and inserting ``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) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the following:
    ``(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).'';
            (5) by striking subsection (e); and
            (6) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(f)''; and
                    (B) 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) 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.--
            ``(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 minimum 
        annual 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 that date and January 1, 2015.
            ``(2) Minimum price.--The minimum 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 required to be repaid to the Treasury 
        under section 6(c).
            ``(3) Deferment.--The minimum annual sales requirement may 
        be deferred only to the extent that the Secretary is unable to 
        arrange sales at the minimum price.
            ``(4) 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, 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 under subsection (b).''.

SEC. 6. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.

    Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.

SEC. 7. REPORTS.

    Section 16 is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) By the Secretary.--'' before ``The 
        Secretary''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) By the Inspector General.--
            ``(1) Financial statements.--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.
            ``(2) Cooperation.--The Director of the Bureau of Mines 
        shall cooperate with the Inspector General in carrying out 
        paragraph (1), and shall provide the Inspector General with 
        such personnel and accounting assistance as may be necessary 
        for that purpose.
            ``(3) Contents.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The financial statements shall 
                be comprised of--
                            ``(i) a balance sheet reflecting the 
                        overall financial position of the helium 
                        operations, including assets and liabilities 
                        thereof;
                            ``(ii) a statement of operations reflecting 
                        the fiscal period results of the helium 
                        operations;
                            ``(iii) a statement of cash flows or 
                        changes in financial position of the helium 
                        operations; and
                            ``(iv) a reconciliation of budget reports 
                        of the helium operations.
                    ``(B) Statement of operations.--A statement of 
                operations shall include 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.
                    ``(C) Balance sheet.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The balance sheet shall 
                        include--
                                    ``(I) on the asset side, the 
                                present discounted market value of 
                                crude helium reserves; and
                                    ``(II) on the liability side, the 
                                accrued liability for principal and 
                                interest on debt to the United States.
                            ``(ii) For reporting purposes.--For 
                        financial reporting purposes but not in 
                        connection with the determination of sales 
                        prices in section 6(c), the balance sheet shall 
                        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 date of enactment 
                        of the Helium Act of 1995.
                    ``(D) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Revenues.--The term `revenues' does 
                        not include--
                                    ``(I) 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; or
                                    ``(II) proceeds from sales of 
                                assets other than inventory.
                            ``(ii) Expenses.--The term `expenses' 
                        includes--
                                    ``(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 under 
                                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 
                                date of enactment of the Helium Act of 
                                1995.
            ``(4) Audits.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The financial statements shall 
                be audited annually by the Comptroller General of the 
                United States, who shall submit a report on such audits 
                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.
                    ``(B) Standards.--Each audit under subparagraph (A) 
                shall be prepared in accordance with generally accepted 
                government auditing standards.''.
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