1995 US Code
Title 50 - WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
CHAPTER 10 - HELIUM GAS
Sec. 167a - Authority of Secretary

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§167a. Authority of Secretary (a) Conserving, producing, buying and selling helium

For the purpose of conserving, producing, buying, and selling helium, the Secretary is authorized—

(1) to acquire by purchase, lease, gift, exchange, or eminent domain, lands or interests therein or options thereon, including but not limited to sites, rights-of-way, and oil or gas leases containing obligations to pay rental in advance or damages arising out of the use and operation of such properties; but any such land or interest in lands may be acquired by eminent domain only when the Secretary determines (A) that he is unable to make a satisfactory agreement to acquire such land or interest in land, and (B) that such acquisition by eminent domain is necessary in the national interest;

(2) to make just and reasonable contracts and agreements for the acquisition, processing, transportation, or conservation of helium, helium-bearing natural gas, or helium-gas mixtures upon such terms and conditions, and for such periods, not exceeding twenty-five years, as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of the chapter, except that the Secretary shall not make such contracts and agreements which shall require payments by the Government in any one fiscal year aggregating more than the amount which shall be established initially in an appropriation Act and which may be increased from time to time in appropriation Acts, or if the Secretary—

(A) determines that the national interests require the conservation of certain helium or require certain helium-bearing natural gas or certain helium-gas mixture for the production or conservation of helium, and

(B) determines that he is unable to acquire such helium, helium-bearing natural gas, or helium-gas mixture upon reasonable terms and at the fair market value,

he is authorized to acquire by eminent domain such helium and so much of such helium-bearing natural gas or helium-gas mixture as is necessarily consumed in the extraction of such helium after removal from its place of deposit in nature and wherever found, or the temporary use of such helium-bearing natural gas or helium-gas mixture for the purpose of extracting helium, together with the appropriate interest in pipelines, equipment, installations, facilities, personal or real property, including reserves, easements or other rights necessary or incident to the acquisition of such helium, natural gas, or mixture, but the condemnation of any such helium, helium-bearing natural gas, or helium-gas mixture, shall be effected in the same manner and following the procedures established in section 167f(a) of this title, the just compensation for such condemnation to be measured by terms and prices determined to be commensurate with the fair market value, and in the temporary use of any helium-bearing natural gas or helium-gas mixture for the purpose of extracting helium the Secretary shall cause no delay in the delivery of natural gas to the owner, purchaser, or purchasers, thereof, except that required by the extractive processes;

(3) to construct or acquire by purchase, lease, exchange, gift or eminent domain, plants, wells, pipelines, compressor stations, camp buildings, and other facilities, for the production, storage, purification, transportation, purchase, and sale of helium, helium-bearing natural gas, and helium-gas mixtures: and to acquire patents or rights therein and reports of experimentation and research used in connection with the properties acquired or useful in the Government's helium operations;

(4) to dispose of, by lease or sale, property, including wells, lands, or interests therein, not valuable for helium production, and oil, gas, and byproducts, of helium operations not needed for Government use, except that property determined by the Secretary to be “excess” within the meaning of section 3(e) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of June 30, 1949, as amended [40 U.S.C. 472], shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of that Act [40 U.S.C. 471 et seq.]; and to issue leases to the surface of lands or structures thereon for grazing or other purposes when the same may be done without interfering with the production of helium; and

(5) to accept equipment, money, and other contributions from public and private sources and to prosecute projects in cooperation with other agencies, Federal, State, or private.

(b) Helium on public domain

Any known helium-gas-bearing land on the public domain not covered at the time by leases or permits under the Mineral Lands Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended [30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.], may be reserved for the purposes of this chapter, and any reservation of the ownership of helium may include the right to extract, or have extracted, such helium, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary, from all gas produced from lands so permitted, leased, or otherwise granted for development, except that in the extraction of helium from gas produced from such lands, it shall be extracted so as to cause no delay, except that required by the extraction process, in the delivery of gas produced from the well to the purchaser or purchasers thereof at the point of delivery specified in contracts for the purchase of such gas. If any reserved rights of ownership and extraction of helium are not exercised before production of any helium-bearing natural gas or any helium-gas mixture, the Secretary is authorized to acquire such helium in accordance with subsection (a)(2) of this section.

(c) Contract price

All contracts and agreements made by the Secretary for the acquisition of helium from a private plant shall contain a provision precluding the plant owner from selling any helium to any purchaser other than the Secretary at a price lower than the lowest price paid by any Government agency for helium acquired from any private plant under any contract entered into pursuant to this section and outstanding at the time of such sale.

(Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 426, §3, as added Sept. 13, 1960, Pub. L. 86–777, §2, 74 Stat. 918.)

References in Text

That Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(4), means act June 30, 1949, ch. 288, 63 Stat. 377, as amended, known as the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. Provisions of that Act relating to disposal of government property are classified to chapter 10 (§471 et seq.) of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 471 of Title 40 and Tables.

The Mineral Lands Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, referred to in subsec. (b), probably means act Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437, as amended, known as the Mineral Leasing Act, which is classified generally to chapter 3A (§181 et seq.) of Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 181 of Title 30 and Tables.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 3 of act Mar. 3, 1925, related to disposal of helium by sale, use of funds so obtained, and reports to Congress on such uses and was classified to section 164 of this title, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 86–777.

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in section 167f of this title.