The Impact of Selling the Federal Helium Reserve

The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-273) directs the Department of the Interior to begin liquidating the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve by 2005 in a manner consistent with "minimum market disruption" and at a price given by a formula specified in the act. It also mandates that the Department of the Interior "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 U.S. scientific, technical, biomedical, or national security interests." This report is the product of that mandate. To provide context, the committee has examined the helium market and the helium industry as a whole to determine how helium users would be affected under various scenarios for selling the reserve within the act's constraints. The Federal Helium Reserve, the Bush Dome reservoir, and the Cliffside facility are mentioned throughout this report. It is important to recognize that they are distinct entities. The Federal Helium Reserve is federally owned crude helium gas that currently resides in the Bush Dome reservoir. The Cliffside facility includes the storage facility on the Bush Dome reservoir and the associated buildings pipeline. Table of Contents Front Matter Executive Summary Overview 1 Properties and History 2 U.S. Federal Helium Reserve and the Helium Privatization Act 3 Uses of Helium 4 Helium Supply, Present and Future 5 Economics of the Helium Market 6 Impact of the Implementation of the Helium Privatization Act Bibliography A: Agendas for Meetings of the Committee on the Impact of Selling the Federal Helium Reserve B: Helium Privatization Act of 1996 C: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members D: List of Acronyms and Definitions