50 U.S.C. § 167d : US Code - Section 167D: Sale of helium

Search 50 U.S.C. § 167d : US Code - Section 167D: Sale of helium

(a) Purchase by Government agencies
The Department of Defense, the Atomic Energy Commission, and
other agencies of the Federal Government, to the extent that
supplies are readily available, shall purchase all major
requirements of helium from persons who have entered into
enforceable contracts to purchase an equivalent amount of crude
helium from the Secretary.
(b) Sales by Secretary
The Secretary is authorized to sell crude helium for Federal,
medical, scientific, and commercial uses in such quantities and
under such terms and conditions as he determines. Except as may be
required by reason of subsection (a) of this section, 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) Prices and determinations; repayable amounts
Sales of crude helium by the Secretary shall be at prices
established by him which shall be adequate to cover all costs
incurred in carrying out the provisions of this chapter and to
repay to the United States by deposit in the Treasury, 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) Extraction of helium from deposits on Federal lands
All moneys received by the Secretary from the sale or disposition
of helium on Federal lands shall be paid to the Treasury and
credited against the amounts required to be repaid to the Treasury
under subsection (c) of this section.
(e) Helium production fund
(1) All moneys received under this chapter, including moneys from
sale of helium or other products resulting from helium operations
and from the sale of excess property shall be credited to the
helium production fund, which shall be available without fiscal
year limitation, for carrying out the provisions of this chapter,
including any research relating to helium carried out by the
Department of the Interior. Amounts accumulating in said fund in
excess of amounts the Secretary deems necessary to carry out this
chapter and contracts negotiated hereunder shall be paid to the
Treasury and credited against the amounts required to be repaid to
the Treasury under subsection (c) of this section.
(2)(A) Within 7 days after the commencement of each fiscal year
after the disposal of the facilities referred to in section 167b(c)
of this title, all amounts in such fund in excess of $2,000,000 (or
such lesser sum as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out this
chapter 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) of
this section, the fund established under this section shall be
terminated and all moneys received under this chapter shall be
deposited in the general fund of the Treasury.