[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4138-H4151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HELIUM PRIVATIZATION ACT OF 1996
Mr. ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3008) 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.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3008
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 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 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.
[[Page H4139]]
``(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 States and 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 amounts required 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. REPEAL OF AUTHORITY TO BORROW.
Sections 12 and 15 are repealed.
SEC. 7. 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.
[[Page H4140]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Colorado [Mr. Allard] and the gentleman from Hawaii [Mr. Abercrombie]
will each be recognized for 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Allard].
Mr. ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. ALLARD asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3008. This
legislation demonstrates our commitment to put an end to bloated
Government programs by shutting down an inefficient facility which has
outlived its need and can't compete with the private sector. I thank my
good friend and colleague, Mr. Cox, for his tireless efforts to bring
this important bill to the floor. To assure the fiscal responsibility
for this closure, this legislation repeals the Secretary of the
Interior's authority to borrow under the Helium Act and requires the
Secretary to impose fees for helium storage, withdrawal, and
transportation services.
Specifically this bill will:
Get the Federal Government out of the helium business, including sale
of the stockpile, and shut down an inefficient helium refinery. Within
18 months, this bill will terminate the helium refining and marketing
operations of the former U.S. Bureau of Mines at the Excell plant and
the Amarillo plant. Additionally, all proceeds from the sale of these
facilities and equipment will be returned to the Treasury. These funds
will be applied toward reduction of the debt the Federal Government has
incurred by purchasing crude helium for storage and refining since
1960.
Second, this bill ensures repayment of this debt. The total helium
program debt shall be frozen at the current amount, which is
approximately $1.4 billion. Future sales from the crude helium
stockpile must be sold at a price determined by dividing this debt by
the approximately 32 billion cubic feet of helium currently stored in
the Cliffside Field. That value will be the minimum bid per thousand
cubic feet for crude helium that the private distributors must pay to
access this supply. Revenue received from the private sector as the
result of crude helium sales will be returned to the Treasury to
complete debt repayment.
And finally, this legislation protects our domestic helium industry
from undue disruption by the Federal Government. By recognizing the
current market surplus, the bill allows flexibility in commencement of
the sale of the stockpile, so as to minimize market disruption. Sales
may begin as late as 2005 but the bill requires that the stockpile be
eliminated by 2015. Coincidentally, this is when many experts believe
the current surplus of helium may no longer exist. Thus the Federal
Government should receive a higher price for the commodity than the
minimum established floor bid.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1500
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. ABERCROMBIE asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise with regrets, acknowledging H.R.
3008, a bill to close the Federal helium program, will pass today. In
these days of downsizing, it seems the time has come to terminate
programs which appear to have outlived their usefulness like the
Federal helium program.
I want to note that I say appear, Mr. Speaker. Since 1925, when the
Defense Department believed that dirigibles or blimps would be an
integral part of our national defense, the Federal Government has
managed a helium program. Today the Federal helium program continues to
serve the needs of major Federal users of helium such as NASA and DOE
laboratories, who are required to purchase helium from the Bureau of
Mines.
The Federal Government got involved in helium production at a time
when there was no private helium production. Today, however, the
private sector manufactures 90 percent of the world's helium. For this
reason groups such as the National Taxpayers Union, the ``20/20'' TV
program, the Interior Department inspector general, and the Heritage
Foundation, an unlikely conglomeration, have called for its
elimination.
H.R. 3008, like its predecessor, H.R. 3967 in the 103d Congress,
enjoys bipartisan support. While I did not support termination of the
program, I recognize after several years of consideration Congress is
poised to resolve the question of the helium program by terminating it.
But I remain concerned that we have not done enough to aid the 200-plus
employees in Amarillo, TX, who will lose their livelihood as
consequence of our decision.
The bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to sell off all the
equipment, real property, refining facilities, and gradually sell off
most of the crude helium currently stored in Amarillo, TX. Funds from
the sale will be deposited in a helium fund established under the 1960
act, and will be available for various termination activities,
including some employee benefits already authorized under law.
Eventually the fund will be applied against the debt to reduce the
deficit. This is, in any event, the hope.
During the committee consideration of this bill, I offered an
amendment to provide employee benefits in addition to those authorized
under existing law so that the 200-plus employees in Amarillo, many of
whom have built their careers on this program, would get the same kind
of additional education and job placement assistance that we gave
defense employees working at bases that were closed. These are people,
Mr. Speaker, men and women, who through no fault of their own find
themselves working for a Federal program targeted for downsizing and in
fact elimination.
My amendment would have given these people help in addition to what
the Secretary has already authorized to provide, the same kind of help
that we have provided, as I indicated, to many of the defense employees
working at military bases scheduled for closure: job placement
assistance, extended life and health insurance coverage, and the option
to take an early retirement without penalty.
Sadly, my Republican colleagues on the committee could not be
persuaded to provide this type of much-needed aid. During committee
debate, my friend and colleague from California [Mr. Calvert] argued
that the Secretary already has the authority to provide these benefits.
This is simply incorrect, Mr. Speaker.
My amendment would have added authority necessary to enable the
Secretary to extend health and life insurance coverage for 3 years
beyond an employee's termination. The Secretary does not have the
ability to provide this assistance under current law. My amendment
would have allowed Federal helium employees access to the enhanced
early retirement option, and current law does not provide for this
protection. My amendment would have given Federal helium employees
hiring preference Government-wide, not just in the Amarillo area as is
provided under existing law.
So, Mr. Speaker, my amendment failed. Even though I agreed with my
good friend and colleague from Texas [Mr. Thornberry] that we did not
need to terminate this program, I, and I believe he, could see that
this bill would pass. So I tried to lessen the blow so that the helium
workers might be able to find another Federal job, or if they served 20
years, they could take an early out and retire from civil service.
As of now, this is not to be, Mr. Speaker. These activities would
have been paid from the existing helium account and would have cost
relatively pennies, especially in comparison to the costs of
unemployment benefits. The Congressional Budget Office said that my
amendment would have had no budgetary effect.
It seemed only fair to offer this assistance to the innocent victims
of our downsizing zeal, so that the employees who had nothing to do
with the difficulties facing the program would not be left stranded by
their Government. But my Republican colleagues could not see their way
clear to help their fellow public servants in this instance, and so
today I expect we will pass H.R. 3008 under suspension of the rules so
we can praise ourselves for making Government smaller.
We could have done so, Mr. Speaker, in a much more humane and
compassionate manner. I will ask the other
[[Page H4141]]
body to consider my amendment before we conclude the legislative
process. Loyal workers in the helium program deserve no less.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the
gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert] and ask unanimous consent that
he be permitted to control that time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Clinger). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert]
will be recognized for 17 minutes, the balance of the time.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Wisconsin [Mr. Klug].
Mr. KLUG. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California for his
work on this legislation, and my other colleague from California [Mr.
Cox], and also the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank], for their
work on this legislation for years. In a way it is kind of a shame to
see this program come to an end because it takes away one of the great
punch lines when talking about the Federal Government, because the
national helium reserve has really been a laughingstock, I think, for
several decades.
Looking all the way back to the early 1930's, the Federal Government
got involved and continues to be involved in the operation of
hydroelectric facilities, and I have to ask my constituents at home
whether they think the Federal Government should be producing,
marketing, and selling electric power these days, and they say no.
We continue to run and operate, believe it or not, a series of oil
fields scattered around this country from California to Wyoming to
Colorado, although it is with some hope in the budget agreement we just
passed last week that we will be selling off, finally, some of those
oil fields that have literally existed since the days that Teddy
Roosevelt was President in order to guarantee the fact that our naval
fleet would have an adequate supply of petroleum.
And here we are arguing, 70 years later, whether or not we need a
helium reserve in order to do dirigible research in the United States.
This is absolutely absurd. The private sector is capable of producing,
marketing, and selling helium as it has been for the last several
decades, and this is a project at this point, frankly, where we have
run up about $40 million a year in losses on this program and we have
an accumulated debt of nearly $1.5 billion.
This legislation in front of us today has both bipartisan support
here in Congress and also is supported by the White House. It is
supported by a number of taxpayer groups, including Citizens Against
Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union.
The reality today is that in 1996 it is clear that blimps have
absolutely nothing to do with national security. They may have to do
with some intriguing shots at the halftime of a Monday night football
game, but I think they manage to do that without support from the
Federal Government. The taxpayers, frankly, now are left with almost a
$1.5 billion debt to pay off the cost of a reserve that has not really
had any strategic interest for the last 70 years. Obviously, as well,
there is an adequate supply of helium in the private sector.
I finally urge my colleagues to vote for this measure and thank the
gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert] and the rest of my colleagues
for killing a program that frankly should have been killed 50 years
ago.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, with the Chair's permission, I yield
such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr.
Frank].
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I thank my friend and I would say I
admire him, but in the future I think when he is yielding to someone he
better not ask their permission, because if they think they could deny
it, they might.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman, I know.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I thank the ranking member for yielding
me the time.
Mr. Speaker, I want to add my words in support of this bill. It is a
lot easier, it turns out, for the Members on both sides of the House,
Democratic and Republican and across the ideological spectrum, to
abolish a program in principle than to abolish it in fact. We hear a
great deal of talk about abolition but when we get to abolishing any
specific program, it will have liberal and conservative defenders, it
will have Democratic and Republican defenders.
This is one where we also fortunately have a bipartisan coalition for
the abolition. The time has come, clearly, to abolish it. If we cannot
at this point dispense with the helium reserve, the purpose of which is
no longer valid, then we cannot undo anything.
Members who represent the area where it is involved, and they will be
legitimately representing their interests, they will raise some
objections. It is true that it would be a lot cleaner to do this if we
never had a helium reserve in the first place. It is true that
solutions to problems cannot be qualitatively more elegant than the
problems themselves. When we have an entity, we have always some
details to decide when we abolish it.
Nonetheless, abolition is clearly the sensible way to go, and I think
the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox], who has done so much work on
this, has quite sensibly dealt with those problems. This is as
reasonable an approach as we can get, with just one exception.
I heard the gentleman from Hawaii absolutely correctly pointing out
that there are some innocent victims in this, and those are the people
who went to work for the Government in the helium reserve. I agree with
him completely, that they should be held harmless as much as possible.
The package of proposals he outlined, especially since as he pointed
out they have no budgetary impact, are entirely reasonable.
So I would join my friend from Hawaii in appealing to the Senate,
when this bill goes to them, to add that kind of an amendment. In fact,
as a cosponsor of the bill and as a supporter, I will join with him in
urging them to act on that once we have done this.
I say that is important not just in this instance, but it is
important if we are to go ahead with the kind of changes we ought to
make. We have to show that we can economize with some compassion, that
we can economize taking a longer look, but that we are not going to
make hardworking individuals who did not make the particular policy
choices bear an undue share of the burden. To the extent that we can
give them equity while we go forward, I think we ought to. So
therefore, as I said, I join the gentleman's amendment, and with that I
also strongly support this legislation.
The gentleman from California [Mr. Cox], who began calling the
attention of this body to this, has as I said done a very good job of
saying, look, we have this outdated program, a program which it does
not make sense for the Federal Government to be involved in. One test
we always have here is, if we were in fact starting a government today,
would somebody come forward and say, ``Hey, I know what we need, we
need an army, a navy, an air force, a Justice Department, a Treasury
Department, and the helium reserve.'' I do not think that a helium
reserve would make anybody's list of the things a government ought to
be doing right now.
The question, then, is how do we phase it out sensibly? The gentleman
from California's legislation does that. So I hope we pass this today,
and I hope we can then persuade the Senate to take advantage of their
greater rules flexibility, add the amendment the gentleman from Hawaii
talked about, and send the whole thing to the President.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Florida [Mr. Goss].
(Mr. GOSS and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from
California, and I commend him for his efforts to terminate the national
helium reserve and provide some relief for the American taxpayer. I
think the American taxpayers will be very happy to receive the news.
I also want to congratulate my friend from California, Mr. Cox, who
has talked many years about this with me. I think that as a classmate
of mine I
[[Page H4142]]
am very proud of his efforts in this as well. This is a long overdue
action that I have included in my own annual list of spending cuts for
4 years running as an unjustifiable expense at the Government's level.
It demonstrates that slowly but surely we are making progress in
downsizing Government in this town despite resistance.
{time} 1515
As this bill goes through the suspension process today with the
support of almost all taxpayer watchdog organizations, we have got to
ask a question: How did it take this long to get rid of this turkey?
This is a fair question, especially given the fact that this idea was
included in the Vice President's own reinventing Government plan.
Well, the answer it turns out is easy. Preservation of the program
was used as a bargaining chip in 1993 by the White House, the Clinton
White House, to ensure passage of the Clinton tax hike. You remember
the tax hike, the biggest one in history, the one that Americans are
feeling at the gas pumps today?
Well, under this deal, the taxpayer lost twice, with $250 billion in
new taxes and through the continuation of this Federal boondoggle.
Liberal Democrats got two bites, taxpayers got two hits. No more
excuses, no more deals, it is time to end the Federal involvement in
helium and get our fiscal house in order.
This was a national security issue. It is no longer. And it cannot be
justified as a jobs program either. It needs to be put to rest.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes, to say
that the discussion in committee, at least with respect to the
gentleman from Florida's last comments, was not about whether this was
a jobs program. The question is whether the jobs that were being done
could be dealt with in a manner consonant with the closure of this
program that would do justice to our sense of compassion and
understanding of the impact that it would have on those people who are
now working.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I did not want to put words in the mouth of
the gentleman from Hawaii. What I heard him say, I thought, was that we
need to deal with the job dislocation in this matter. I think that is a
fine sentiment. We have something called private enterprise in this
country and opportunity that seems to work very well.
I would like to know if the gentleman wants to supplement that with
some additional subsidy from the taxpayers for these workers, which is
what I thought the intent of the gentleman's remarks were.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, if the gentleman
was a bit more familiar with the fund that finances the helium project
as it is presently undertaken, I think that that would not be a
question.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Ohio [Mr. Cremeans] who has been very helpful in this legislation.
Mr. CREMEANS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3008,
legislation to end the Federal Government's involvement in the helium
business. Just as this Congress has done for the last 16 months, H.R.
3008 is another example of streamling Government and making it work for
the taxpayers. I would like to thank Mr. Cox, the sponsor of this bill,
for his hard work and dedication in bringing the bill to the floor.
Since my election to Congress, a top priority of mine has been to
shrink the Federal bureaucracy and make it work more effectively for
the taxpayer. Cutting waste and unnecessary Government programs, such
as the helium project, must be done if we are to balance the budget.
That is why, last year I introduced H.R. 846, my own bill to end the
Government Helium Program. I am pleased that this nearly identical bill
has come before us for a vote today.
Getting Government out of the helium business makes sense for several
reasons. First, it is responsible to taxpayers. In 1995 alone,
increased debt on the helium program was about $38 million. This bill
freezes the total program debt at the current amount, approximately
$1.4 billion, and allows for the sale of the helium stockpile to the
private sector.
In addition to being fiscally responsible, the bill also protects the
private domestic helium market from disruption caused by selling the
Government stockpile. Sales of the stockpile need not being for another
decade, thereby ensuring time to absorb the helium into the market.
This will help protect private domestic helium production jobs from any
potential adverse effect of the sale.
Mr. Speaker, the Federal Helium Program's time has passed. The days
of the Government, using taxpayer dollars, to compete against the
private sector are over. It's time to stop producing a product we can
buy cheaper from American companies. Selling off the Government reserve
and returning the money to the Treasury is the right thing for the
taxpayers and the domestic helium industry. This bill is long overdue.
I strongly support the legislation and urge my colleagues to do the
same.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas [Mr. Thornberry].
(Mr. THORNBERRY asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks and to include extraneous material.)
Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding me
time, and I appreciate my subcommittee chairman's tolerance of hearing
my views on this issue. I certainly appreciate the ranking member
working with us on this issue as well. He is certainly one Member of
this body that is willing to question and to look beyond maybe his
preconceived ideas and has worked to make this bill a better bill. I
certainly appreciate his efforts in that regard.
Mr. Speaker, there is a legitimate question about whether the Federal
Government ought to be in the helium business or not. I think we are
beyond that. I think that this body has decided the Federal Government
will get out of the helium business. But just to show my colleagues
that it is not a completely one-sided issue, I will insert a couple of
articles, one from the New York Times, one from the Washington Post,
talking about the importance of this strategic material to defense, to
our space program, to medical research, and the rest.
But I want to go beyond that. The decision has been made to get the
Federal Government out of the helium business, so we ought to do it in
the best way possible. I am going to vote no on this bill today because
I think one of the key flaws in this bill is that it prevents the
Federal helium assets from being privatized.
Now, the text of the bill says that it is OK, it will be put up for
sale and somebody can buy this stuff. But as a practical matter, the
formula in the bill makes it economically impossible for any company,
whether it is an individual in Amarillo, TX or Exxon, from buying any
of the helium that is stored in the ground. The formula in this bill
has the price of helium about 25 to 48 percent above the current market
price. Now, if somebody wants to spend that much more, they can do it.
But I suggest that there is nobody who will do that.
So what we have are some folks in my district who might be interested
in buying the refinery and buying some of the helium and competing in
the market, who are essentially shut out from doing that because the
formula is skewed to prevent somebody from doing it.
I have other constituents interested in buying some of the helium and
building perhaps even a new refinery and to refine some of the natural
gas out of it. They are shut out because of this formula.
So as we move to the other body, I suggest that one of the key
improvements that must be made in this bill is looking at the formula
by which the Government sells the helium that is in the ground.
As a matter of fact, not only does this prevent us from privatizing
the operations, as we are doing in so many other cases in this body; it
also prevents us from accruing the real savings that are being
advertised by this bill. One of the projections by OMB showed that at
least $43.9 million of the saving
[[Page H4143]]
accrued by this bill would come as a result of the sale of helium that
is in the stockpile and in the ground.
If it is priced 25 to 48 percent above the market, not only can it
not be privatized, the taxpayers will not see the benefit of that $44
million that they are supposed to get, because it is priced far above
where it should be.
In committee I offered a substitute that was very much closer to the
administration's plan to end the helium program. It would have provided
that the Secretary could sell some of the helium at market price within
his discretion so there is not a disruption in the market. But I think
it would make far more sense to do so that way. It would enable some of
the helium workers to perhaps even get a job at a new privatized helium
plant. Yet this bill prevents that from happening.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know, this has been around so long, I am not
sure if we are really interested in doing this thing the right way for
the right reasons. It is an easy program to make fun of. It is an
essential program in many ways. But I suggest that if we are going to
do it the right way and if we are going to do the right thing by the
workers and by the country, then major revisions need to take place in
this bill with a formula, as well as the way the workers are treated.
We all ought to strive to not just make the Government smaller, but
smarter. In that effort I will be voting no on this bill today.
Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the articles referred to.
[From the Washington Post, Dec. 18, 1995]
U.S. Helium Reserve Finds a Champion
(By Curt Suplee)
The venerable National Helium Reserve--32 billion cubic
feet of the stuff, stored beneath the Texas Panhandle--has
become the federal government equivalent of laughing gas.
Marked for extinction in the Republican budget plan, the 70-
year-old stockpile program has been travestied on Capitol
Hill and in the news media as ``a symbol for obsolete federal
ventures,'' ``the government-waste poster child'' and
``amazingly stupid even by government standards.''
But to many scientists, it's no laughing matter. Earth's
tiny supply of helium is ``finite and irreplaceable,'' the
American Physical Society (APS) warns in a strongly worded
new statement, and doing away with it could prompt a national
catastrophe. When present reserves are exhausted, the world's
leading organization of physicists argues, there will be no
economically feasible way to replace them.
That might not matter much if helium were used only for
levitating blimps or filling birthday balloons. But it has
become one of the most important materials in modern science.
The physicists are worried that if it's left up to private
industry to extract it from natural gas (the main source),
much of the nation's helium simply will go up in smoke.
Liquid helium has the lowest boiling point of any substance
and is essential to the production of practical
superconductors--materials that have no resistance to
electricity--and devices that rely on them. That includes a
wide range of cutting-edge technologies such as medical MRI
scanners, ultra-sensitive diagnostic detectors, weapon-
guidance and astronomical systems, particle accelerators,
magnetically levitated trains and resistance-free power
lines.
Moreover, helium is as close to chemically inert as
elements get and thus is crucial to operations in which
chemical reactions could be destructive, including
pressurizing space shuttle tanks (NASA is NHR's biggest
customer), welding such reactive metals as aluminum and
forming delicate silicon crystals.
Yet there is strong bipartisan support for selling off the
federal reserves--housed in underground facilities near
Amarillo, Tex.--on the private market over the next 20 years
to raise an estimated $1 billion or more for the treasury.
In his last State of the Union address, President Clinton
cited the National Helium Reserve as one of ``over 100
programs we do not need.'' The Republican budget
reconciliation bill vetoed by Clinton earlier this month
called for a shutdown of the NHR's helium-extraction
activities (which make up about 10 percent of U.S.
production) and gradual sale of its inventory between 2005
and 2015. The revised balanced-budget plan Republicans are
proposing contains the same provisions.
That leaves the program, which originated in 1925 to ensure
ample gas supplies for ``national security'' uses such as
dirigible inflation, with no visible means of support--except
for the physicists, who have taken their case to the Office
of Science and Technology Policy in hopes of emphasizing that
helium is not a renewable resource.
The only commercially viable source is natural gas, some
deposits of which contain as much as 0.3 percent helium. Such
``helium-rich'' fields exist only in the United States and,
to a minor extent, in Canada. If helium is not extracted from
the fuel before the gas is burned, it disappears
irretrievably into the atmosphere. Some 3.2 billion cubic
feet per year--approximately the same amount that is
commercially extracted--is lost this way, the APS estimates.
(Theoretically, helium could be recaptured from the air,
where it makes up about five ten-thousandths of 1 percent by
volume. But the cost would be astronomical. Recovering even
3.2 billion cubic feet--about one year's domestic
production--would require 5 percent of the annual U.S. energy
consumption, according to the APS analysis.)
There are only a couple of deposits in the United States
that are particularly rich in helium, said Charlotte LeGates,
a spokeswoman for the Natural Gas Supply Association, who
estimates that those resources probably will be exhausted
``60 or 70 years from now.'' But that situation she said, has
nothing to do with whether the federal government remains in
the helium business or not. She said the current budget
legislation simply aims ``to turn government stockpiling--
which is sort of nonsense--into an orderly private market.''
A spokesman for Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), who
introduced the National Helium Privatization Act of 1995 that
both houses of Congress incorporated into the budget bill,
agreed. ``The private sector is well situated to fill the
need,'' said Vincent Sollitto. ``We are extremely confident
that there's going to be plenty of helium in this country.''
This is plausible in view of the fact that demand for U.S.-
produced helium has nearly doubled since 1985, according to
the Department of Interior.
But the APS is skeptical. The physicists are not opposed to
privatization of the NHR. ``It will little matter to future
generations whether the helium they use was extracted and
stored by the government or by private industry,'' said APS
spokesman Robert Park of the University of Maryland. ``But it
cannot be assumed that private industry, motivated by short-
term profits, will decide to extract more helium than there
is an immediate market for. Any helium that is not extracted
will be lost forever as the natural gas is burned. Some
incentive or requirement to store it must be in place.''
For years, that incentive was the Helium Act of 1960, in
which Congress authorized the NHR--operated by the Interior
Department's Bureau of Mines--to make purchases of the gas
and store it. The government is uniquely positioned to do so,
because 64.2 percent of ``helium-rich'' gas resources are on
federal land, according to the Bureau of Mines. The purchases
were halted in 1973, and the size of the reserve has changed
little since then.
The program's financial situation, however, has changed
drastically. Because it was launched with a congressionally
mandated $252 million loan from the Treasury and has paid
back little of its debt, the National Helium Reserve ``owes''
the federal government about $1.4 billion, most of which is
compound interest accrued in the past 35 years. It is this
obligation that the sale of the reserves is intended to pay
off. And it is this ostensible debt that Cox spoke of in
October when he said that the NHR is ``continuing to lose
tens of millions of dollars a year.''
The APS disputes the logic of such reasoning. ``From the
viewpoint of the U.S. government's net worth,'' the group's
statement says, ``regarding this $1.4 billion as a `debt' . .
. is purely illusory. . . . Any transfer of funds from one
government agency to another neither reduces the Treasury's
national debt nor increases the budget deficit by a single
penny.''
Besides, said Park of the APS, if money is the principal
issue, helium is likely to appreciate in value at least as
much as any other government-held asset over the next few
decades. ``It's a good investment over the long term,'' he
said. ``It makes far more sense than storing gold at Fort
Knox.''
____
[From the New York Times, Feb. 6, 1996]
Helium Will Not Fill the Demands of the Future, Physicists Caution
(By Malcolm W. Browne)
In the century since it was discovered as a trace
ingredient of the uranium mineral clevite, helium, the second
lightest of all elements, has become indispensable to science
and technology. Scientists believe it could play a vital role
in helping the world through future energy shortages.
But as Congress and the White House move to end Government
participation in helium conservation, the American Physical
Society, a professional society of physicists, warns that the
most economically exploited source of this nonrenewable
substance will be depleted in 21 years unless steps are taken
to halt a growing helium hemorrhage.
THe society calculates that although American producers
recover about 3.3 billion cubic feet of helium from natural
gas each year, another 3.2 billion cubic feet are thrown away
because gas companies lack financial incentives to separate,
refine and store it. The Federal Government operates a
combined stockpile, and buffer stock, into which commercial
producers deposit helium when demand is low, for later
withdrawal if necessary. Critics contend that Government
involvement is unnecessary and interferes with the market's
ability to match supply with demand.
A world shortage of helium a generation from now could
obstruct the development of superconducting power lines,
motors, generators, electricity storage systems, magnetically
levltated trains and many applications not yet even imagined,
the American Physical Society says. Helium is not only
irreplaceable; It can also do things that no other substance
can even approximate.
[[Page H4144]]
Helium is commercially recovered from certain natural gas
reservoirs, mainly in the United States. Because it is a
noninflammable gas with nearly as much lifting power as
inflammable hydrogen, it was prized by airship builders and
users following World War I, a conflict in which hydrogen-
filled Zepplin bombers had proved to be deathtraps. After the
war, the United States banned the export of helium to deprive
potential enemies of fire-resistant airships, and later
created a strategic helium stockpile, a reserve that now
contains 32 billion cubic feet.
But dirigible airships are no longer regarded as
strategically important weapons and, in any case, many
lawmakers opposes the continued maintenance of any Federal
stockpiles. One of the present targets of Congress is the
national helium stockpile, as well as Federal participation
in the extraction of the gas.
In December, the American Physical Society deplored the
projected liquidation of Government helium reserves and
reported that 3.2 billion cubic feet of helium are being
dumped into the atmosphere each year and are forever lost.
Unless the Government creates economic incentives to private
industry for extracting and storing the otherwise wasted
helium, one of the world's most valuable resources will be
squandered at incalculable cost to future generations, the
group said.
``The present world growth rate in demand for helium is
about 10 percent per year,'' the society's report said. ``A
simple calculation shows that if that rate were to continue,
and if helium production could keep up with the demand,
United States helium-rich reserves would be exhausted in only
21 years.''
The United States has large reserves of helium mixed with
natural methane in the gas fields of Texas, Wyoming and a few
other states. America is virtually the world's only source of
natural gas containing 0.3 percent or more or helium. In
Russia and Poland, two of the other main sources of helium,
natural gas generally contains 0.1 percent or less of helium,
and such a lean mixture is much more expensive to separate,
said Dr. Robert L. Park of the University of Maryland,
spokesman for the physicists' society.
Helium is separated from the natural gas with which it is
mixed either by adsorbing the natural gas in charcoal or
other materials, or by compressing and cooling the methane
and other gases until all but the helium are liquefied.
Helium, which remains a gas unless it is chilled to minus 452
degrees Fahrenheit, is then pumped off.
The main obstacle to extracting and storing helium, experts
agree, is the mismatch in market demands for natural fuel gas
and helium. When demand for natural gas is heavy, as is
normally the case in winter, large amounts of helium are
withdrawn from gas wells along with the natural gas, but if
there is little commercial demand for helium at that point,
there is no economic incentive to extract and save it, said
Dr. Park. Gas companies then generally avoid the expense of
separating the helium, which consequently remains mixed with
the natural gas and is lost when the gas is burned.
Congress has decreed the demise of the Bureau of Mines, and
has ordered the shutdown of the bureau's helium separation
plant near Amarillo, Tex. which produces about 10 percent of
the nation's helium. (The rest is produced by commercial gas
companies: Praxair Inc. of Danbury, Conn; the BOC Group, a
British company with American headquarters in Murray Hill,
N.J.; Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Allentown, Pa., and
the Exxon Corporation are among the main producers.) In his
State of the Union address last year, President Clinton also
proposed closing down the Government's helium reserve
program, including the closing of the Cliffside Dome storage
well--a depleted natural gas cavern near Amarillo--which
contains the national helium stockpile.
The Cliffside Dome, which is about one-third full, is
connected by pipelines to other helium-rich gas fields, and
when supplies of the extracted gas exceed demand. Cliffside
serves as an overrun storage site, from which helium can be
later drawn.
Even defenders of the maintenance of a helium stockpile
acknowledge that the Bureau of Mines's Exell helium refining
plant near the Cliffside Dome is outdated, Inefficient and
expensive, and they say it holds an unfair financial
advantage over private competitors. All Government agencies
that buy helium must by law purchase it from the Bureau of
Mines, which sells the gas at $55 per thousand cubic feet
nearly 10 percent more than the price offered by commercial
suppliers.
The bureau's helium operation, moreover, is heavily in
debt. But the debt of $1.4 billion is misleading, said Dr.
Philip C. Tully, a helium expert at the Bureau of Mines.
``Most of that money consists of interest we supposedly owe
the Treasury Department for the $252 million they advanced to
us to create the strategic helium reserve,'' Dr. Tully said
in an interview. ``It's just one Government agency in debt to
another Government agency--a paper debt--and Congress could
wipe it out with the stroke of a pen, at no cost to
taxpayers.''
But neither the Bureau of Mines nor helium conservation has
many friends in Congress.
A key sponsor of legislation to end all Federal helium
programs is Representative Christopher Cox, a California
Republican, who believes the fears expressed by the American
Physical Society are groundless.
``No matter who gains title to the helium in the Federal
stockpile, the helium will still exist,'' Mr. Cox said in an
interview. ``It won't be wasted. The only real risk is that
the Government might sell if off quickly to get cash to
reduce the deficit. That's misleading accounting practice.
But we are contemplating a gradual transfer of ownership,
taking half a lifetime.''
Market demand will determine how much helium commercial
producers extract from the natural gas they sell, and as
supplies of helium decrease, Mr. Cox believes, higher prices
will create incentives to extract more helium. ``The gas
companies are already extracting 90 percent of the helium
produced in this country, and they will certainly continue,''
Mr. Cox said.
Dr. Park says the American Physical Society takes no
position as to whether helium conservation should be the
responsibility of Government or of private companies. ``Our
grandchildren aren't going to give a damn who saves the
world's richest supply of helium, as long as someone does it,
and does it before supplies run out,'' he said. ``Surely, our
politicians should be able to devise some incentive system to
encourage private industry to save the helium. Congress has
created lots of incentives for other purposes.''
But Mr. Cox rejects this approach, saying that ``Government
tinkering with future price structures would be very
dangerous.''
Helium was first discovered in the sun, not on earth. In
1868 while observing a solar eclipse, a French astronomer,
Pierre Janssen, detected lines in the sun's light spectrum
that did not match those of any known element. The presumed
new element was dubbed helium after the Greek word for sun:
hellos. In 1885, helium was discovered to exit on earth as
well. Helium is now known to be the second most abundant
element in the universe, after hydrogen. But when it escapes
from underground caverns where it has collected over the eons
chiefly as a decay product of radioactive minerals, it mixes
with air, rises into the atmosphere and is lost.
Although American airships and balloons--both the full-size
versions and small weather balloons--are still inflated with
helium, that use of the gas accounts for only about 10
percent of its consumption. (The toy balloons popular at
parties and political rallies consume such trivial amounts of
helium that conservation advocates say they represent no
significant drain.) Major American uses of helium are for
purging and pressurizing the fuel tanks of NASA and Defense
Department spacecraft, for high-temperature welding and in
cryogenic applications like the magnetic resonance imaging
machines used by hospitals.
About one-third of America's annual helium production is
exported to foreign users, and foreign demand is increasing
steadily.
Helium has special importance to scientists because its
physical properties are unique among all the other 100-odd
elements. It is the only element that remains liquid at even
a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero, which is
equivalent to minus 459.67 Fahrenheit. Liquid helium cannot
freeze solid, no matter how close to the absolute zero it is
chilled.
Because it remains liquid at ultra-low temperatures, liquid
helium is vital as a medium for chilling mercury, arsenic,
niobium and other elements to temperatures at which they lose
all resistance to electricity, becoming superconductors.
Although various compounds based on copper oxide become
superconductors at much higher temperatures, warmer than that
of liquid nitrogen (minus 320.4 degrees Fahrenheit), these
compounds are difficult to incorporate into useful
implements, and so far, their use has been limited.
Among the major users of liquid helium for chilling
superconductors are the huge accelerator laboratories
studying nature's fundamental particles. The Fermilab
Tevatron accelerator at Batavia, III., is a four-mile ring of
superconducting magnets, all of them continuously cooled by
liquid helium. Fermilab operates the world's largest liquid-
helium refrigeration plant, but it will soon take second
place to a project under construction near Geneva.
On a smaller scale, astronomers are heavily dependent on
liquid helium for cooling infrared and microwave sensors in
their telescopes. Such sensors must be chilled to eliminate
the heat ``noise'' that otherwise masks the faint heat
signals from distant celestial objects.
``Sooner or later we're going to have to start husbanding
our helium,'' Dr. Park said. ``If we do it now, we can save
the helium-rich supply before it goes up the chimney. If we
wait, we'll still need helium, but it will be vastly more
expensive to separate from helium-poor gas supplies. Have we
the right to mortgage our future?''
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Michigan [Mr. Ehlers].
Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I am rising as a scientist to speak about
the importance of helium in scientific research. I find that most
Americans believe that it is simply used to fill balloons to be
distributed at parties or other festivities.
I want to point out it is extremely important that we maintain a
reserve of helium for use in scientific research. It is the only
element that can be used to come close to absolute zero in low
[[Page H4145]]
temperature work. It has some amazing superfluid properties which are
still being uncovered, and, all and all, it is a vital component of our
research program in the United States.
I do not rise to oppose the bill. I simply want to state my main
objective here is to ensure that we continue to have an adequate supply
of helium for the future, particularly so that our children and
grandchildren will be able to carry on this important research.
I believe this bill has sufficient provisions to ensure that the
reserve will be maintained in some fashion, but I want to assure the
entire Congress that it is very important we keep an eye on this in the
future and continue to maintain a reserve, whether it be in private
hands or Federal hands.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Texas has made a good point
concerning whether or not in terminating the program there will be
genuine competition take place or whether there will be privatization
under circumstances, to wit, a formula that inhibits competition.
At the same time, there are questions with respect to conservation
and the interests of the Nation with respect to the helium reserve. My
own inclination is to be sympathetic to the gentleman from Texas'
commentary. However, I realize that the gentleman, who has been in the
forefront of bringing this legislation to the floor, may have another
view or perhaps an additional observation to make with respect to the
conservation aspect.
Mr. COX of California. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. COX of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding to me. I also appreciate the opportunity to address the very
good points that have been raised. While Dave Berry has made fun of the
National Helium Reserve, and while P.J. O'Rourke called it a program
that is amazingly stupid, even by Government standards, and while most
people when they think of helium think of party balloons, the truth is
that there is a very real and important high-tech application for
helium.
It is irreplaceable in many high-tech applications, and it is very
important to our high-tech economy that we do our utmost to conserve
what is a very finite and limited resource.
Every time you make a long distance phone call, you are using helium,
because the fiberoptics that carry your voice are manufactured with its
aid. If you ever had an MRI, you know of the uses of helium in
superconducting, because it is the cryogenic properties of liquid
helium that make possible the high magnetic fields used in magnetic
resonance imaging. Deep sea divers do not get the bends because of
developments in oxygen and helium mixtures.
All of these and other uses of helium, even the Federal Government's
own uses at NASA and the Department of Defense, are high-technology,
and are examples of just how important it is to us today, as it was not
in the 1920's when this program was started, to conserve all of the
helium that we can.
We cannot forget that we manufacture helium as a byproduct of natural
gas. When we produce that natural gas, it is important that the cost of
extracting the helium is not such that we cannot make it economic to do
so. We do not want to vent the helium into the atmosphere.
So this bill achieves that conservation objective by actually making
it more likely people will invest their funds, private funds, into
recovering helium at the wellhead.
Selling helium below the cost of extraction, which is what we would
be doing without the formula in this bill, is obviously antithetical to
the goal of conservation. So what the bill says is that the $1.4
billion debt to taxpayers must be recovered through the sale of the 34
billion cubic feet of helium that we now have stored underground in
Texas.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I do not think that
we would resolve that particular dispute today. Suffice to say that Mr.
Thornberry has raised the issue as to whether the formula is so exact
in this bill that it needs no further consideration, and I think his
contention is that it should receive at least another good look before
it passes into a final form to be presented to the President for
signature.
{time} 1530
I think that, at a minimum, we deserve at least another look and I
think that that opportunity exists in the other body.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, with respect to that, I want to thank
the gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert] for his usual courtesy and
kind attention toward our efforts in the minority, and I thank the
gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] for his remarks today.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Hawaii
for his courtesy through all of this debate.
Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from
California [Mr. Cox] who has really fought this battle to end the
helium program once and for all, and hopefully, this time, will
succeed.
(Mr. COX of California asked and was given permission to revise and
extend his remarks).
Mr. COX of California. Mr. Speaker, we have actually passed this bill
already once in the House and in the Senate. Unfortunately the
legislation to privatize the national helium reserve was then included
in the larger Balanced Budget Act that was vetoed by President Clinton.
This time we are wisely passing the bill all by itself because it is, I
think, enormously popular on both the Democrat and Republican sides
after many, many years of hard work to get it that far.
I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Hawaii [Mr.
Abercrombie] for his work in helping us move this bill to the floor, as
well as my colleague from California, who is, as chairman, responsible
for bringing this bill directly to the floor.
I would also like to thank my colleague, the gentleman from
Massachusetts, Barney Frank, who spoke earlier on this legislation. He
and I coauthored it in not only the current Congress but past
Congresses. It has been many, many years that we have been working on
this bill.
I am also grateful to my colleague from Nevada, Congresswoman,
Barbara Vucanovich, a member of the House Republican leadership; to the
gentleman from Alaska, chairman Don Young; and to the gentleman from
Ohio, Congressman Frank Cremeans, who along with the gentleman from
California, Ken Calvert, who we just heard speak on this bill, they in
particular have worked tirelessly on this legislation in the Committee
on Resources, to make sure that what may now look very easy and
completely agreeable to almost all sides could actually happen.
I would also like to thank Chris Kearney, Bill Condit, and Sharla
Bickley of the Committee on Resources' staff who have done yeomen's
work on this issue and whose efforts deserve recognition.
To recap. The helium program was begun in the 1920's for a good
reason. At the time there was no private industry of helium production
but there was a national security need to field a fleet of blimps in
time of war. Fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft have now replaced the
blimp in our national defense and, as I mentioned earlier, it is now
the high-tech commercial and scientific uses for helium that dominate.
Today, because of all of those commercial uses, there is a thriving
commercial industry in helium that supplies 90 percent of the world's
needs from right here in the good old USA. There is no reason whatever
that the Government of the United States should uniquely supply its own
needs of this commodity when it does not for any other, even strategic
metals and commodities and resources.
So this bill will do two things. It will, first, sell off and
liquidate those physical assets of the Government facility in Texas;
privatize them, if you will, immediately; and, second, over a 19-year
period, sell off the 34 billion cubic feet of stored underground
helium, not for immediate use, for continued conservation and eventual
sale over who knows how many decades or
[[Page H4146]]
perhaps centuries, to the private industry. So that, privately,
suppliers will then own that helium.
But keep in mind, for those of us who are physicists, not I, but
certainly the gentleman who spoke before me, keep in mind the law, the
fundamental law of the conservation of matter. Just because we change
title, just because we change ownership from the Federal Government to
private hands does not mean that the helium will not still be there. It
will be there. In fact, more of it will be there because of the
incentives for increased helium recovery a the wellhead created by this
legislation.
The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 will do a few more things that
we can all applaud. It will require the production of honest financial
statements for this Government enterprise in the short run so that we
know finally just how much it is costing us. We know the operation is
$1.4 billion in debt to the taxpayers right now and loses tens of
millions each year because of that interest burden that it has never
been able to meet. But we do not know to a certainty what the
operations cost; and we shall, as a result of the passage of this bill.
In addition, we will ensure that the debt, that $1.4 billion debt to
taxpayers, is recovered. That is the ultimate object of this
legislation. The taxpayers hold the mortgage on the debt and now, by
relying on the security of the underground stored helium, the taxpayers
will get their money back.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I am delighted that the leadership of
this Congress has made passage of the Helium Privatization Act a
priority, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join
with me and the bipartisan leadership you have heard speak on this bill
in supporting this important measure. It is high time we finally retire
this expensive waste of taxpayers' money.
Mr. Speaker, several weeks ago articles in the New York Times and the
Washington Post reported that concerns about U.R. 3008 had been raised
by the American Physical Society. In fact, APS has not taken a position
on the legislation. Moreover, the background paper prepared by APS was
premised on the mistaken notion that by ``privatization'' of the helium
reserve, the bill meant immediate sale of the stockpile. That is
obviously not the case. To the contrary, many physicists (and APS
members) have announced support for the bill. The following letter
explains many of the problems with the original, now outdated, APS
statement:
Arthur W. Francis Consulting,
New York, NY, January 12, 1996.
American Physical Society,
Washington, DC.
Dear Sirs: This letter to each member of the Council of
American Physical Society (CoAPS) is sent out of concern for
your 11/19/95 statement CONSERVATION OF HELIUM and its
background paper. As a cryogenic engineer, business manager,
and consultant for 45 years in supply and use of helium, and
a very early and continuous supporter of helium conservation,
I was appalled by the CoAPS statement. The fear of complete
loss of helium in 20 to 25 years is understandable, but it is
somewhat naive. It indicates a serious lack of understanding
of events of the past fifteen years that have led Congress to
undertake its first effective revision of the Helium Act of
1960.
I am writing you in hopes that you and your colleagues will
reconsider your position and recognize the helium reform
provision of the Budget Reconciliation Bill as a step toward
optimum use of helium. It is important that you and other
scientists realize that this legislation promotes use of
otherwise wasting helium sources and does not threaten
premature use of the government owned stored helium. It was
arrived at with full knowledge of the importance of a wide
variety of helium dependent technologies for science as well
as the general welfare.
My credentials on this subject are these: I was Linde's
principal investigator in its 1951 discovery of alternate
layer super-insulations, created the basic design of all
standard multi-shield vapor cooled liquid helium dewars, and
was chief architect of the system of bulk liquid helium
transport that now spans the globe. My baptism of fire in
support of helium conservation was program chairman of a
technical session of the Bureau of Mines sponsored ``Helium
Centennial'' of 1968. Along with Dr. Ed Hammel, I wrote and
spoke many times in support of helium conservation during the
dark days of the 1970's.
As an expert witness I participated in the decades long
litigation regarding the value of helium in natural gas and
the rights of land owners and gas producers to a proper share
of that value. I have continued my interest in conservation
through my retirement years, attending hearings and giving
advice to interested parties as the present legislation
developed. I remain involved in helium supply problems as a
consultant to the United States Antarctic Program, regarding
liquid helium supply to Astrophysics at the South Pole. I am
scheduled to make my seventh trip there next week.
The Background Paper, on which the CoAPS statement is
based, contains many errors. The most critical of these is
the seemingly innocuous statement that, ``Some 10% of the
total U.S. helium extraction presently is performed by the
Bureau of Mines''. This is completely false, as is also,
``the helium stored in Cliffside (field) has remained
approximately constant at 32 Bcf''. In fact, all of the
helium purified by the Bureau since 1980 has come from the
Cliffside storage field, and the government owned helium in
the field has been drawn down by nearly five billion cubic
feet (5 Bcf) in the process. These actions have been the
result of a bureaucratic policy directly at odds with the
letter and spirit of the 1960 Act. The intent has been to
ensure continuance of the bureaucrats' own jobs.
legislation objective
The prime objective of the current legislation is to
eliminate the wasteful and unnecessary government helium
refining activity. Private producers are able to provide this
service with less than one fifth the personnel and at
substantially lower cost. CoAPS says ``there is no objection
to this feature of the Act''. Yet for ten years the sweet
voice of reason had not been able to move this deeply
entrenched anti-conservation cabal. What has brought us to
bi-partisan support of both houses of Congress is right
minded public ridicule. The caricature of conservation so
presented has even moved the White House to support
elimination of the Bureau of Mines refining operation.
debt is real
CoAPS also errs in stating that the so called debt incurred
to purchase helium ``is purely illusory, any transfer of
funds from one government agency to another neither reduces
the national debt nor increases the deficit by a single
penny''.
Also at odds with the facts is the assertion that, ``the
helium issue is muddled by claims that the sale is required
to pay off the $1.4 Billion debt''. CoAPS has fallen for the
bureaucrats' sham that the debt is internal to the government
and has no intrinsic meaning. In fact, money to acquire
helium for government storage was borrowed from world money
markets by the Treasury. The 1960 Congress intended, and the
Helium Act stated, that government helium was to be priced to
repay borrowed funds, including compound interest. This was
done to insure that stored helium would be priced high enough
to avoid interference with helium extracted from current
natural gas production.
anti-conservation policy
In spite of this clear directive, the Bureau helium
management established a policy in 1979 in which the selling
price would be held down so that as general inflation raised
prices charged by private producers, the Bureau would sell
below the market price. The managers claimed that as long as
current costs were covered, it wasn't necessary to repay the
purchase price and its associated interest because the debt
was simply a paper transaction between two government
departments.
Pricing stored helium below the cost of extraction from
natural gas produced for its fuel value is obviously contrary
to conservation. The present legislation language is another
attempt to insure that stored helium will command a price
above the market for current extraction. The legislation
places emphasis on retiring the debt because that is what
motivates those interested in reducing the deficit. Simply to
state that helium from storage must be priced above the
market from current extraction doesn't win votes at this
time. The ultimate effect will be the same, as long as the
price is right.
cost of saving more helium would be high
CoAPS is correct in stating that the legislation makes no
provision for saving helium that is now being wasted from
currently produced natural gas. However, the potential for
significant additional helium recovery is much smaller, and
the cost of that recovery much larger, two to three times
current costs, than implied by CoAPS statement.
The reason for this is that the favorable streams are
already being produced. Each of the original five
conservation plants is extracting as much helium as possible
from the gas available. In addition three new plants
extracting from Hugoton field have come on stream since 1990.
With all these plants extracting helium in 1994 the total
U.S. output exceeded 4.1 Bcf, about 90% of the peak year
1967, although the output of high helium content natural gas
was less than 70% of the 1967 rate. The remaining unprocessed
streams tend to be smaller, depleting faster, and removed
from the existing infrastructure.
consumption growth is slowing
CoAPS warns that ``present growth rate in demand for helium
is about 10% per year'' which projected would exhaust U.S.
helium rich reserves in 21 years. Alternatively, even without
increasing helium demand the loss of unextracted helium from
natural gas fuel demand would deplete U.S. gas fields in
about the same time frame. In fact, sales growth began to
fade in 1990, and since 1992 has leveled at 3.314 Bcf (Fy
1992), 3.313 (Fy 93), and 3.280 for (Fy 1994). This abrupt
halt to the 10% growth rate has come from a combination of
foreign production displacing some U.S. exports and increased
user efficiency.
[[Page H4147]]
foreign helium sources are significant
CoAPS assert that ``helium rich fields are found only in
the U.S. and to a small extent in Canada'', yet large scale
foreign plants are producing in Poland, Russia, and Algeria
with total capacity exceeding one billion cubic feet per
year, about 25% of current U.S. capacity. Smaller plants have
operated in Canada, Holland, France, China and India.
reliquefaction and repurification increase use efficiency
More important even than this large foreign supply is the
growing user concern for efficiency. Once through then out
(OTTO) use of purchased helium is being replaced by closed
loops using reliquefiers and repurifiers. This allows
application of helium dependent technology to expand without
consuming more helium. Research in high temperature
superconductivity shows promise of taking over much of
today's low temperature superconducting applications.
helium will be plentiful longer
To sell the 1960 program, the Bureau of Mines predicted
that helium could not be extracted from the Hugoton-Panhandle
fields beyond 1985. Yet ten years later production remains at
a high level and is now predicted to continue at least
another ten to fifteen years. Natural gas has been produced
from these fields throughout the past seventy five years, yet
nearly every year there are additions to the remaining
measured reserves that tend to delay the eventual
abandonment. The Bureau of Mines information circular
``Helium Resources of the United States, 1973'' reported that
109.3 Bcf of helium @ >0.3% concentration was contained in
the fifty year old, depleting natural gas fields of Kansas,
Oklahoma, and Texas. From 1973 to 1987, these fields produced
natural gas containing 81.8 Bcf helium. However, in the 1987
circular, the Bureau reported that 73.4 Bcf remained in the
proved reserves of those fields. There had been enough upward
revision of the proved gas reserves to add over 50 Bcf of
contained helium >0.3%. Between 1987 and 1989 gas production
contained 9 Bcf helium, but reserve revisions added 11 Bcf.
In the next two years gas production contained 10 Bcf and
revisions added 9 Bcf. As of 1991, the latest available
publication in this series, these old fields, after producing
about 102 Bcf, still held about 80 Bcf of proved reserves for
future use. Further additions are still possible, even
probable. The resource is never the less finite, but the
finite limit has not yet been identified.
all gas from largest reserves is processed for helium
Regarding helium loss in non-processed gas it is important
to recognize that all of the gas from the Riley Ridge field
in Wyoming (proved reserves of about 120 Bcf) is processed
for helium extraction. This field, which supplies about one
third of current pure helium sales, is being produced at a
rate of only one per cent of its proved reserves per year. It
is unlikely that this production rate will increase until the
price of natural gas increases significantly. At current fuel
prices, it is not possible to obtain an acceptable return on
the huge investment required to upgrade this low Btu gas to
pipeline quality. It may be decades before fuel demand
reaches price levels that will encourage new processing
capacity. Riley Ridge is likely to produce helium throughout
most of the 21st century.
nondepleting fields can provide for very distant future
Beyond this, it is possible that a significant helium
supply could be obtained from the proven gas fields that are
not producing at all. The hydrocarbon fuel value of this gas
is so low that it would barely provide energy for the
processing plant. The Bureau of Mines has identified 85
billion cubic feet of helium in these non depleting sources,
more than half of this is already owned by the United States
government. Extracting helium as a primary rather than by-
product will be expensive. However, the concentration is
three orders of magnitude greater than in air, so it won't
require even 0.1% of the nation's energy consumption. This
helium source may well be available into the 22nd century.
It is futile to make any more detailed predictions for such
distant future times. Nearly every prediction that far into
the future is bound to fail because we cannot even surmise
what human society will be like in even very gross measures.
It is entirely fair to say that the bleak picture presented
by CoAPS is unlikely, and that it is quite likely that
sufficient helium to meet all reasonable needs will be
available as far into the future as anyone can foresee.
I hope that you, as a member of CoAPS, can be open minded
to the information I have presented. If you now have doubts
about the CoAPS position, please consult with your colleagues
and advise the Physical Society membership to have confidence
that helium conservation is not in danger. If you want still
more information on this subject, please call me at 914-354-
1908. My E-mail address is [email protected]. By the time you
receive this letter, I will probably be on my way to
Antarctica. I am scheduled to return by February 19, 1996,
and you can reach me then. If you have a compelling need to
pick my brains before then try an E-mail to one of my
colleagues in Antarctica, Mr. Jesse Alcorta. His E-mail
address is [email protected].
Very sincerely,
Arthur Francis.
Mr. Speaker, consideration of this bill requires some background. Let
us begin with these questions.
why is the u.s. government in the helium business?
Helium is a gas whose unique physical properties make it
irreplaceable in many high technology applications. As Government space
exploration and defense programs expanded during the 1950's, Government
scientists became convinced that demand for helium would outgrow
supply. Natural gas was, and continues to be, the only economic source
of helium and few natural gas streams contained a high enough
concentration of helium to make extraction economically viable. If the
helium is not extracted when the natural gas is produced, it is forever
lost into the atmosphere. The use-it-or-lose-it dynamics of helium at
the well-head lent a special sense of urgency to the perceived supply-
demand imbalance.
At congressional hearings held in 1960, mining experts reported that
nearly 4 billion cubic feet of helium were being lost each year--about
10 times the then current consumption. A valuable, nonrenewable
resource was apparently being wasted, threatening shortages in future
decades when demand for helium was expected to be much larger.
Against this backdrop, Congress passed the Helium Act of 1960. This
act funded a Government program to extract crude helium from natural
gas and store it in the Cliffside Field near Amarillo, TX. The
Department of the Interior's Bureau of Mines [USBM] entered into 22-
year purchase agreements with four natural gas producers who built
helium extraction facilities in the Hugoton-Panhandle Field area of
Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas and the USBM built a pipeline to carry its
helium purchases to the Cliffside Field. The Helium Act also required
that Federal agencies purchase their helium requirements from the USBM.
To meet those requirements, the USBM constructed a helium purification
facility near Amarillo, TX. A final objective of the Act was to foster
the development of a private helium industry--presumably to allow the
USBM to de-emphasize or discontinue its helium program as soon as it
could prudently do so.
By the time the Government terminated its helium purchase agreements
in 1973, the USBM had accumulated roughly 35 billion cubic feet of
helium. By most estimates, this represents a 100-year supply for U.S.
Government customers, and roughly nine times the current annual
worldwide demand. While the Government stopped purchasing additional
helium in 1973, the remainder of the Government's helium program,
including operation of its refining plant, management of the pipeline
and storage system, and the sale of helium to Federal agencies has
largely remained intact.
Now, 23 years later--and 36 years after the Government's helium
program was expanded, it is long since time to re-examine the USBM
helium program. A vibrant private sector helium industry has emerged
which now supplies over 90 percent of the world's total demand for
helium. Additional capacity is available which would enable private
industry to easily supply the entire demand, including the demand
presently supplied by the USBM. Given the current emphasis on
reinventing Government, the USBM's helium programs seems to provide an
excellent opportunity to restructure or discontinue a Government
program that no longer provides fair value to American taxpayers.
why is helium a valuable resource?
When we hear helium the first thoughts that come to mind are of
Macy's parade, Mother's Day, and FTD's balloon bouquets. In actuality,
helium touches us in our everyday lives. This rare element has unique
properties that have allowed us to improve our quality of life.
Every time you place a long distance call, you can be assured helium
was used in the manufacture of the fiber optic cables used to transmit
your voice. Advances in medical diagnostics have been accomplished
through MRI units that achieve their high magnetic fields from
superconductivity made possible by the cryogenic properties of liquid
helium. The construction and fabrication industries use helium and
helium mixes extensively in welding and metal fabrication. Deep sea
divers in the offshore oil industry can be assured that they will not
be crippled from the bends with the development of helium/oxygen
breathing mixes.
These are but a few of the many applications for which helium is used
to improve our lives. New applications are being developed not only in
high technology research such as super computer chips, but low
technology industries as well. Worldwide consumption of helium
increases on an average of 7-10 percent per year both from growth of
current uses and development of new applications.
This natural resource which has contributed much to our development
as a technological leader is not unlimited. The United States has been
fortunate to be endowed with concentrations of this element in select
natural gas fields which have allowed for its exploitation.
[[Page H4148]]
While helium is a non-renewable resource, produced only as a byproduct
of natural production, depletion of these reserves is inevitable. The
Federal helium reserve and conservation system, which are discussed in-
depth in another paper, play an important role in preserving our
independence as a technological leader. This reserve serves as an
important insurance that we do not compromise our future for short-term
fixes. The Federal reserve and conservation system were designed to
encourage maximum extraction of helium from currently produced natural
gas thereby ensuring the United States of a long term position in the
development of applications dependent on the unique properties of this
element.
Is the Federal Helium Operation Efficient?
The U.S. Bureau of Mines within the Department of the Interior
operates the Federal Helium Program. Federal helium operations consist
of: First, a plant to refine crude helium; second, an underground
storage facility to store crude helium, and third, a pipeline to
transport crude helium recovered from the source gas fields to the
storage facility.
Private sector helium-refining facilities are far more efficient than
the Federal refinery. The Federal refining plant employs at least 80
people, while a private facility of equivalent production capacity
employing only approximately 18 people can produce three times as much
helium. This astonishing discrepancy in productivity is attributed in
part to the outdated plant and equipment at the Federal facility. A
recent study by the General Accounting Office concluded that the
Federal refining facility is so outmoded that it would have only scrap
value in the event of liquidation.
Federal revenue from the sale of refined helium falls far short of
Federal costs of helium production. In the market place, price is the
most direct measure of efficiency. The current Federal price for
refined helium is now $55 per MCF and generates revenue only sufficient
to cover operational costs and a slight surplus. For instance, the
Federal price does not include the cost of crude helium. The best
estimate for assigning a unit value of the crude in the Federal reserve
is to divide 32 BCF--total Federal reserves of crude--into $1.4
billion--total debt--to arrive at an approximate cost of $40 MCF. If
the cost of this free crude were included, the Federal price would be
$95 per MCF, which is hardly competitive with the private sector. Crude
helium is free to the Bureau of Mines because the money borrowed from
the taxpayer to buy the crude was never repaid.
The Bureau of Mines hides the inefficiency of the refining operation
by including unrelated revenue. When private producers extract crude
helium from Federal property, they pay a royalty to the Bureau of Mines
of approximately $5 million per year. This royalty income is unrelated
to Federal helium operations, yet the Bureau of Mines uses the revenue
stream to subsidize its refining operation.
The Federal helium operation is the epitome of an inefficient,
Federal program that continues to exist despite the absence of current
need. The Department of the Interior entered into the helium business
in 1960, when Federal helium requirements were projected to increase
dramatically and no reliable sources of helium were available in the
private sector. Today, the Federal Government's need constitutes only
10 percent of the total demand for helium, and a vigorous private
sector could easily supply all Federal users at a competitive price.
Who Uses the Helium Reserve?
The 1960 Federal Helium Act has been successful in storing for the
U.S. Government 32 billion cubic feet of crude helium--50 percent or
greater helium content, the remainder nitrogen--in a partially depleted
natural gas field near Amarillo, TX, called the Cliffside Field. A
pipeline system is used to transport crude helium to storage. It is
operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, and
is also used by private industry to store any crude helium that is not
required to meet market demand. Helium is being extracted by private
industry plants from natural gas going to meet the energy demand of
U.S. households and industry. A portion of the private crude helium is
being stored in the Cliffside Field under USBM supervision.
Does the U.S. Government need a crude helium reserve? Worldwide
helium demand from 1972 to 1992 had a growth rate of 9.3 percent per
year and now exceeds 3 billion cubic feet per year. Although supply
currently exceeds demand current helium bearing natural gas being
produced for market will soon be depleted. Conservative U.S. Government
estimates forecast that U.S. helium demand will exceed supply between
2001 and 2004. The real value of the 32 billion cubic feet will be its
availability to the U.S. economy when the extractable helium is not
adequate to supply demand. Although the U.S. Government's helium
reserve will be very valuable once U.S. reserves of helium-bearing
natural gas are depleted, the current market value of the crude helium
reserve is far lower than some of the estimates that have been quoted
by various uninformed sources. It would be totally unrealistic to
expect to sell more than a small fraction of the reserve for prices
approaching current market value. If the U.S. Government were to
attempt to dispose of the entire reserve--nine times annual worldwide
demand--over a short period of time, it would realize only pennies on
the dollar and severely depress private industry prices for crude
helium. Any short-term sales of crude helium into a depressed market
will be at the taxpayers expense.
By 2005 the helium reserve will become very valuable--so valuable it
will be considered irreplaceable for the smooth functioning of our
economy and then USBM sales will be at prices consistent with the
helium reserve's true value.
can the government sell crude helium without disrupting the private
helium industry?
The world market for refined helium is just over 3 billion cubic feet
per year. Private refiner/marketers of helium are fully capable of
supplying this demand for the foreseeable future. In addition, new
helium production and refining capacity is coming into service will
provide an abundant supply to satisfy an estimated growth in demand of
7-10 percent per year for the next 5 years.
The Government refines helium from crude helium which is held in
long-term storage and sells it on the market in competition with helium
from current production. Selling crude helium from the Federal helium
reserve will create an oversupply of helium. An over supply of helium
will push prices down making further investment to recover helium from
current natural gas production less likely. Government sales of helium
at below market prices is dumping a valuable and depleting commodity.
The Cliffside Field is the only economically feasible storage
capacity for crude helium--50 percent or greater helium, the remainder
nitrogen. The Federal helium reserve has held this crude helium since
the 1960's. The Cliffside Field which contains the Federal helium
reserve also serves private sector helium producers as the only
commercially storage site for private sector crude helium. A fee is
paid to the Bureau of Mines for use of the pipeline and storage
capacity.
The natural gas from helium rich gas fields will continue to be
produced as a fuel even if the helium is not recovered. This helium
will be lost forever.
Any sale of Government helium will displace helium from current
recovery or production plants. Therefore, Government sales of refined
and/or crude helium to meet current demand are not needed, will be
disruptive and will waste helium by reducing its recovery from helium
bearing natural gas currently going to market.
should crude helium be sold anyway, to raise revenue?
This is a terrible idea. The Congressional Budget Office seemingly
will not credit helium sales for deficit reduction purposes. Moreover,
crude helium sales to raise cash now would undermine the long term
value of the reserve, because helium will continue to increase in
value. The fact is, helium sales into the private market cost more than
they gain.
can the $1.4 billion helium debt be repaid?
Back in 1960, Congress recognized that helium was essential for such
agencies as NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission. It passed a law
creating the Federal helium activity to ensure helium supplies to
Federal users. Given that the nascent private helium industry could not
then be expected to meet Government demand, Congress authorized the
Department of Interior to borrow a quarter of a billion dollars to set
itself up in the helium business, which included creating a stockpile
or reserve. The Treasury Department handled the borrowing.
Mindful that Government agencies need discipline to return money to
the taxpayers, Congress directed that the incurred debt be amortized
and be paid in full by 1985. A final deadline of 1995 was mandated.
Revenue to service the debt would come from sales of helium.
Incredulously, some 36 years later not only has the principal on the
debt not been repaid but neither has any of the interest. This
indebtedness has now accrued to $1.4 billion.
Some in the Government attest that this billion dollar debt is not
real. Since it is owned by one Government agency to another Government
agency it can be forgiven without ill consequences. Yet, every week at
the Treasury's auction of government securities this debt is rolled
over. It has been rolling over every week now since the sixties--piling
up interest accumulation.
Can the taxpayers ever realistically expect repayment of this debt?
The answer is ``yes''. Had the Interior Department, U.S. Bureau of
Mines, carried out Congress' mandate to amortize the debt, this
question would not be asked today. The Department, however, chose not
to employ a rational pricing policy that would have recovered this
money. Instead of slowly increasing the price of helium to keep pace
with inflation, it opted to simply freeze
[[Page H4149]]
the price to its customers. It stayed nearly frozen for over 20 years!
The Interior Department should initiate a realistic pricing structure
sufficient to start amortizing this debt. It may take another 30 years
to pay it off, but at least taxpayers eventually could be made whole.
The worst thing the Government can do now is simply to forgive this
debt. It would not only reward a bureaucracy for shunning a
congressional mandate, but more importantly it would forever remove the
discipline the Department needs to avoid wasting this scarce, valuable
element.
Helium is wasted by selling it too cheaply. Cheap Government sales
discourage gas producers from extracting crude helium from current
natural gas production. When it wishes to refine crude helium the
Department simply pulls crude helium from its stockpile. Helium refined
from current gas production ensures that it is priced to market value.
why does the federal helium program want to undercut private industry?
There have been several proposals made to reform the Helium Program
operated by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Mines. Some of these
proposals would enable the USBM to use the crude helium purchased and
stored with tax-payer dollars as a free feed stock for their helium
plant. The refined helium that the Government produces from this free
feed stock could then be sold at prices below those charged by the
industry, which does not have access to a free feed stock. Current
proposals to forgive the helium fund debt would free the USBM to
greatly increase their sales into the private sector.
Sales of USBM helium into the private sector enable the USBM to
spread their high operating and administration costs over a larger
volume. This, coupled with the free feed stock discussed above, helps
hide the inefficiency of their operation. As Federal research and
defense budgets have been reduced, the demand by Government agencies
for helium has declined. This has left the USBM with a need to increase
their sales of helium into the private sector in order to keep their
inefficiency from pricing them out of the business entirely. No
consideration is given to the fact that such sales disrupt the normal
function of the private helium market and result in the waste of
helium, and lost or reduced income tax and royalty payments to the
Federal Government.
The USBM's stated policy has been to discourage the sale of Federal
helium into the private sector, which according to their Annual Reports
to Congress have been very limited. However, the DOI Inspector General
reported that during the period from 1989 through 1990 when the USBM
reported sales of only 2 million standard cubic feet of helium, 0.3
percent of their total sales, into the private sector, it actually sold
146 million standard cubic feet, 20 percent of their total sales. Their
regulations required a surcharge on sales to private customers, which
was almost never collected. This problem largely disappeared in 1991
when the Director of the USBM increased the USBM helium price and
removed the incentive to divert helium intended for Federal use to
private use. Now, the USBM is proposing to reduce their price and this
diversion of helium into the private sector, whether officially
encouraged or not, will return.
what is the legitimate role for the federal government concerning
helium?
Why is helium a valuable resource? Helium's unique physical
properties are critical in many high technology applications, such as
manufacturing fiber optic cable, enhancing magnetic resonance imaging
[MRI] capability, providing an environment for superconductivity, and
industrial welding and fabrication. For most uses of helium, no
substitute exists. Helium is a byproduct of the extraction of natural
gas from certain helium-rich fields. If not captured when the natural
gas is extracted, the helium will be vented and lost forever.
Why is the Federal Government in the helium business? Congress passed
the Helium Act Amendments of 1960 to ensure that sufficient amounts of
helium would be extracted and refined to meet the Federal Government's
expanding needs for space and defense programs. Also, the act was
enacted to foster the creation of a competitive private industry, which
was in its infancy in 1960.
Pursuant to this Act, the Bureau of Mines within the Department of
Interior now operates the Federal Helium Program, which consists of: an
underground facility to store crude helium; a pipeline to transport the
crude helium from the field to the storage facility and a plant to
refine--purify--crude helium. The Federal refinery, which sells
principally to Federal customers, provides 10 percent of the refined
helium in the U.S. market.
Is the Federal Helium Program efficient? The Federal helium operation
is the epitome of an inefficient Federal program that continues despite
the absence of a current need. For example, the Federal refinery
employs at least 80 people, while a typical private facility can
produce at least three times as much helium with no more than 18
people. Moreover, net receipts from the sale of helium to Federal
users, are vastly overstated because the Federal refinery does not
include the cost of crude helium in its price for refined helium.
Who needs the helium reserve? The Federal Government owns
approximately 32 billion cubic feet of crude helium, which is currently
stored in the underground facility. These reserves represent an
investment that will pay dividends when current demand for helium
exceeds current supply. U.S. production capacity may well be
insufficient to meet demand as early as the year 2001.
Can the $1.4 billion helium debt be repaid? Congress originally
authorized the Interior Department to borrow up to $250 million to
enter the helium business and stockpile crude helium. The Bureau of
Mines' sales of refined helium were supposed to generate sufficient
revenue to return this money to the Treasury, but the outstanding
principal and interest now amount to approximately $1.4 billion. By
pricing helium to account for the debt, the Bureau of Mines could repay
the debt over several years and ensure that any helium sold will yield
the highest possible return to the taxpayer.
Can the Federal Government sell crude helium without disrupting the
private helium industry? The potential adverse affects of selling too
much Federal crude helium are significant. Government sales will
depress private production of helium, because less helium will be
captured from current gas production. This will mean more private needs
being met by Government sales. As a result, some helium would be lost
forever. Any attempt to sell helium just to raise Federal revenue will
likely result in below market pricing due to excess supply and,
consequently, a poor return on the taxpayers' original investment.
Moreover, there is no fiscal imperative to sell crude helium, because
the Congressional Budget Office has advised that sales of crude helium
from the reserve are asset sales and, therefore, provide no revenue for
deficit reduction.
How should the Federal helium activity be reformed? Unless Congress
reforms the Federal Helium Program, the Department of Interior will
continue to be the subject of criticism. Since a vigorous, competitive
private sector helium industry now exists, the Federal Government no
longer needs to take an active role in the business. For all of these
reasons, Congress should enact H.R. 3008, which will: first, require
the Bureau of Mines to discontinue the processing and sale of refined
helium; second, preclude the sale of crude helium by the Bureau of
Mines until current production of helium no longer satisfies current
demand; and third, eventually repay the helium debt over two decades
with revenue generated from the sale of crude helium, when market
circumstances merit its release.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that the following letter of support for H.R. 3008
be included at this point in the Record.
National Taxpayers Union,
April 29, 1996.
Hon. Christopher Cox,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Cox: The 300,000-member National
Taxpayers Union strongly supports your legislation, H.R.
3008, the Helium Privatization Act.
Passage of the Helium Privatization Act is long overdue.
For several years now, the National Helium Reserve has served
as one of the most glaring examples of our government's
inability to rid itself of obsolete, low-priority spending
programs. This stark symbolism seems to have no end, as the
New York Times reported that the Reserve was operating even
during last year's federal shutdown, when thousands of other
federal employees were classified as ``non-essential.''
Conceived in 1925 to prepare for an outbreak of blimp
warfare, the National Helium Reserve certainly fits the
description ``non-essential.'' Today the program costs
taxpayers millions per year to staff and maintain, plus
millions more due to mandated purchases by government
agencies at inflated prices. Any proceeds from helium sales
to outside customers must be weighed against the costs of the
$1.4 billion in debt the agency has incurred during its
existence. Meanwhile, private helium producers have created
an adequate and efficient market that could easily sustain
the needs of both government and industry for the foreseeable
future in the absence of a federal program.
Your legislation resists simplistic, headline-grabbing
approaches by providing a rational, methodical timetable for
privatization of the National Helium Reserve. The bill will
ensure a smooth transition to an all-private helium market
system as well as save taxpayers $9 million annually. The
Reserve's refining and marketing activities would cease, and
its stocks would be liquidated so as to provide the best
return for taxpayers who have continued to fund this
boondoggle.
The nation's taxpayers expect and deserve a visible
commitment from their elected officials to reduce wasteful
spending. If Congress cannot muster the political will to
eliminate an obvious target such as the National Helium
Reserve, its credibility on tough deficit reduction issues
such as entitlement reform could suffer. Accordingly,
National Taxpayers Union's staff stands ready to assist your
effort to privatize the National Helium Reserve, and to that
end we
[[Page H4150]]
urge your colleagues to work for swift passage of H.R. 3008,
the Helium Privatization Act.
Sincerely,
David Keating,
Executive Vice President.
____
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste,
Washington, DC, April 29, 1996.
Hon. Chris Cox,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Cox: On behalf of the 600,000 members
of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW),
I am writing to endorse The Helium Privatization Act (H.R.
3008). This legislation not only eliminates an archaic
program, long overdue for extinction, but also eliminates a
sizable debt already incurred by the program.
The National Helium Reserve was created in 1925 as a
response to expectations that dirigibles would be an
important aspect of the military's air might. With the rapid
rise of fixed wing aircraft, the need for dirigibles was
quickly eliminated. Sadly, the program was not. Over the past
70 years, government agencies have been forced to buy helium
at an inflated price, now costing taxpayers $25 million
annually. The Reserve has also mounted a $1.4 billion debt
and a 100-year stockpile. According to some experts, the
Reserve has enough helium to supply every man, woman, and
child in the country for the next 19 years.
The National Helium Reserve symbolizes exactly the type of
bloated government bureaucracy that taxpayers want
eliminated. This program has continued to survive, despite
meeting no apparent need and costing the taxpayers far more
money than buying from private sources. Even worse,
mismanagement has led to a sizable debt that now needs to be
eliminated. H.R. 3008 would do just that. Profits from asset
sales would be large enough to eliminate this debt, and
taxpayers would no longer have to bear the burden of this
unnecessary program.
The Helium Privatization Act is common-sense legislation.
Even more encouraging is the overwhelming bipartisan support
that this legislation has received. I applaud your efforts to
privatize this program and urge all members of the House to
support this measure. CCAGW will consider this vote for its
1996 Congressional Ratings.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Schatz,
President.
____
Chamber of Commerce,
United States of America,
April 24, 1996.
Hon. Christopher Cox,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Representative Cox: The U.S. Chamber Federation
believes it is time to shut down the federal helium program.
The federal helium program was created over sixty years ago
when it was thought our national defense would depend on
blimps and dirigibles. Those days are long past but this
program is still in business. Even though the private sector
is capable of fulfilling our helium needs, currently
producing over 90 percent of U.S. supplies, federal agencies
are required to purchase helium from the federal program
which has generated a $1.4 billion debt.
Our fiscal budget situation demands the elimination of this
wasteful and inefficient program. H.R. 3008 would terminate
the Department of the Interior's helium refining program. It
would responsibly dispense with the crude helium stockpile
without disrupting the market and provide a return on the
millions of taxpayer dollars invested in this operation.
The U.S. Chamber Federation of 215,000 businesses, 3,000
state and local chambers, and 1,200 trade and professional
associations, and 76 American Chambers of Commerce abroad
respectfully requests your strong support and the expeditious
adoption of H.R. 3008.
Sincerely,
R. Bruce Josten.
____
Hon. C. Christopher Cox,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Congressman Cox: President Clinton and both houses of
Congress agree that shutting down the federal helium
operation is an important reform necessary to reduce the size
and scope of government and to help balance the budget.
Helium conservation is still a worthy objective and the
best way to achieve it is to end this inefficient, wasteful
federal program that inappropriately completes with the
private sector helium industry.
We write to ask you to help move legislation that will
terminate the Interior Department's helium refinery and deal
responsibly with the crude helium stockpiled in the helium
reserve. H.R. 3008 meets these objectives and identical
language has already been approved by both the House and
Senate as part of the budget reconciliation package. Since
budget reconciliation is problematic, we now ask that you
support H.R. 3008.
Congress should approve this ``good government''
legislation that will help cut waste and return to the
taxpayers the tens of millions of dollars invested in the
helium program.
American Gas Association, Citizens Against Government
Waste, Helium Advisory Council, National Association of
Manufacturers, National Taxpayers Union, Americans for
Tax Reform, Compressed Gas Association, Inc.,
Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, Natural
Gas Supply Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. COMBEST. Mr. Speaker, the importance of helium and the Government
involvement in helium conservation and production dates back to the
passage of the Helium Act of 1925. The building and operation of a
large-scale helium extraction and purification plant went into
operation in 1929 in Amarillo, TX, that until 1960, was the only
domestic helium producer.
In 1960, Congress amended the Helium Act to provide incentives for
stripping natural gas of its helium, for purchase of the separated
helium by the Government, and for its long-term storage. With now close
to 34.25 billion cubic feet of helium in Government storage and a large
private-sector helium recovery industry, some have asked whether or not
the Federal Government should have a role in the helium business.
While interest in helium began with World War I when its military
value as an inert lifting gas was recognized by the Army and Navy, its
current uses have far surpassed what many could have imagined. Helium
now plays a vital role in the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration [NASA] Space Shuttle program as well as one of the most
important materials in modern science. These are but a few of the
current modern-day uses of helium that many of the opponents of the
helium operations have failed to mention.
The Space Shuttle uses more helium than any other single program in
the Federal Government. The principle consumption comes just before
launch time when the external tank must be purged before the liquid
hydrogen fuel can be loaded. During flight, the hydrogen is pressurized
with a helium atmosphere to force the liquid fuel to the turbines and
the three main propulsion engines. While this is certainly the most
high profile use at NASA, several other space projects used liquid
helium supplied by the Bureau for cooling detectors, instruments, and
entire satellites down to -452 degrees F. Currently NASA requires 80
railroad cars of helium for each shuttle launch but it can only take it
in gaseous form. No private company can supply it in gaseous form, so
if H.R 3008 passes, NASA is going to have to spend millions of dollars
to accept the helium as a liquid and then convert it to gas.
The Department of Defense [DOD] is also very reliant upon helium.
Bureau helium is used by the Defense Nuclear Agency [DNA] in
experiments which simulate nuclear explosions. The Air Force is
deploying an operational airborne antisatellite missile system with
liquid helium in an aircraft before takeoff.
DOD has also awarded two competing $12 million contracts to develop a
ground-based, liquid-helium-cooled laser power system. The Navy, too,
is conducting research on the use of airborne superconducting
magnetometer to detect submerged enemy submarines.
The Department of Energy [DOE] awards and administers contracts with
Government-owned, contractor-operated [GOCO] national laboratories at
Brookhaven, NY; Oak Ridge, TN; Fermi and Argonne, IL; Los Alamos, NM,
and Berkely and Livermore, CA. DOE also conducts defense-related
research, development and production, primarily at Los Alamos, Sandia,
Livermore, Rocky Flats, and Pantex.
Helium also plays a role in protecting our borders. Helium-filled,
radar platform blimps, provide electronic surveillance of the southern
border of the United States. The helium-filled inflatables float at
10,000 feet and provide round-the-clock coverage from Arizona to the
Bahamas.
The Bureau is currently supplying liquid helium to several
universities and medical facilities with Federal contracts who are
conducting research on magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] to improve this
technology.
The concern over shutting down Government operations under H.R. 3008
has prompted a warning from the American Physical Society that, ``Any
helium that is not extracted will be lost forever as the natural gas is
burned. Some incentive or requirement to store it must be in place.''
All of the Federal agencies combined purchase about $20 million per
year of helium from the Bureau. This is a small part of their budgets
for research, development, and operation of these Government
activities. The helium operations have supplied quality service to the
programs so vital to the national defense, general welfare, and
security to the Nation. The helium operations provide their product for
numerous state-of-the-art projects that are a far cry from the World
War I dirigibles that opponents claim as its only means for existence.
Incidentally, the helium operations in Amarillo began in 1929, several
years after World War I.
The Helium Program does not receive Federal appropriations. The
program operates on the revenues of returning between $7 to $10 million
per year to the Treasury, even after operating expenses. Since 1990,
the Bureau of
[[Page H4151]]
Mines has made debt repayments totaling more than $40 million.
A General Accounting Office study in 1992 recommended that the helium
debt be canceled since it was characterized as a bookkeeping
transaction between two Federal agencies, with no impact on the deficit
or national debt.
Mr. Speaker, I hope that my comments will give my colleagues a better
understanding of Federal involvement in helium. The national media and
others have both maligned and misunderstood this program. I have urged
my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 3008 so that true reform of the
helium program may become a reality. Sadly, H.R. 3008 will actually
prevent speedy privatization of the helium operations and prohibit the
sale of excess helium.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member rises in strong support of
H.R. 3008, the Helium Privatization Act of 1996. This legislation
represents a small but important step toward a more commonsense
approach toward developing the proper role of the Federal Government.
The Federal Helium Program is clearly an anachronism which deserves
elimination. While it may have served a purpose during the first part
of this century, the justification for the Federal Helium Program has
certainly run out of gas.
This Member has long recognized the need to eliminate this wasteful
and nonessential governmental program. In 1993, this Member wrote to
the President suggesting spending cuts which would help reduce the
Federal deficit. This list included a proposal to sell the national
helium reserves as a way to save taxpayer dollars. This Member also
cosponsored helium privatization legislation introduced by the
distinguished gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] in this Congress as
well as the previous Congress.
The healthy private helium industry offers strong evidence that the
Federal Government should get out of the business. The private sector
currently provides more than 90 percent of the Nation's helium needs.
In fact, as a result of the efficiency of the private helium industry,
the United States now produces eight times more helium than the rest of
the countries combined. It is unnecessary and improper for the Federal
Government to retain its current monopoly on the sale of helium to
Federal agencies.
H.R. 3008 offers an effective approach toward the privatization of
the Federal Helium Program. This legislation will save taxpayers money
by ending the production, refining, and marketing at the Federal helium
facility in Texas. It will also require the sale of the Federal Helium
Program's production facilities and other equipment and privatize the
current helium stockpile. The proceeds from these asset sales will then
be applied toward the program's massive debt to the taxpayers.
Mr. Speaker, this Member urges his colleagues to vote for H.R. 3008,
the Helium Privatization Act of 1996. It's commonsense legislation
which will benefit private business and the American taxpayers.
Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, the recently passed omnibus appropriations
bill was a historic achievement. With it, Congress significantly
reduced the Washington bureaucracy. Nearly 200 outdated Federal
programs were eliminated.
This was a good first step toward a balanced budget. Now, we must
maintain this momentum by taking more steps. For instance, we must get
the Government out of the money-draining helium production business.
This will save taxpayers nearly $9 million annually--money badly needed
in far more vital areas of our economy. I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R.
3008.
Mr. COMBEST. Mr. Speaker, I know of no other Federal program more
maligned and misunderstood that the Department of Interior, Bureau of
Mines, helium operations. Many of my colleagues have piled on board to
eliminate the program. They've heard the clever talking points about
German zeppelins and toy balloons. Although I know I am in the minority
on this issue, I hope to set the record straight on a few essential
points.
The Federal helium operation is actually one of the few Federal
programs that has done what it was intended to do. Going from a time
when there was no helium produced by the private sector, the Helium Act
has been tremendously successful in helping to develop private sector
production and a strategic reserve for helium.
I hope my colleagues and the folks out there listening to this debate
will reflect on 67 years of dedicated, quality service given this
country by those who took on a mission in 1929. My colleagues who
mention the cost to taxpayers for this program are speaking of the
accumulated interest costs--not the annual cost, which is a net
positive gain to the U.S. Treasury of $10 million last year alone.
A legitimate debate has taken place regarding whether or not the
Federal Government should be in the helium business. Regardless of your
view, this bill, H.R. 3008, is not the best answer. Here's why: This
measure effectively prevents private purchase of the helium reserves
and refinery. It attempts to recoup the Government's investment with a
formula selling off 100 years worth of helium. But it will do so at a
price still higher than what its private competitors sell at market.
The bill is designed--plain and simple--to repay the debt and
interest on a loan that was made between two Federal agencies. But also
just as plain and simple, this bill will not privatize the helium
operations. All of that excess helium will remain unsold.
However, there is a better, more balanced approach: It was offered by
another one of our colleagues, Mac Thornberry, during the budget debate
over this legislation in the Resources Committee. His amendment would
have allowed some helium to be sold at market price, as long as it did
not disrupt the market. Adequate helium stockpile would remain for
national security needs, while ensuring the taxpayer a sufficient
return on their investment. It would have canceled the bookkeeping debt
between two Federal agencies. This commonsense substitute is nowhere in
today's bill. The inclusion of this language into H.R. 3008 would have
made this measure a better investment for taxpayers. Without a
balanced, commonsense approach, I cannot support H.R. 3008. I urge my
colleagues to vote ``no'' so that true reform of the helium program may
become a reality.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and with that, I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Clinger). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert] that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3008.
The question was taken.
Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule I and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
____________________