Witnesses: 
Tim Spisak
Deputy Assistant Director, Minerals and Realty Management, U.S. Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Land Management
Scott Gutberlet 
Vice President, Technical & Commercial Services, QEP Resources, Inc.
Bo Seers 
President, Weil Helium, LLC
  Ramesh R. Bhave   
Director, Inorganic Membrane Technology Laboratory Physical Chemistry of Materials Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Committee Members Present: 
Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Subcommittee Chairman 
Doc Hastings (R-WA), Full Committee Chairman 
Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)
Bill Flores (R-TX)
Matt Cartwright (D-PA)

On June 11, 2013, the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held an oversight hearing on “America’s Helium Supply: Options for Producing more Helium from Federal Lands.” The subcommittee heard testimony regarding the current and future U.S. demand for helium, the future of U.S. helium supplies after the closure of the Federal Helium Reserve, and the helium production potential from federal lands. The Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act, H.R. 527, recently passed through the House with bipartisan support, and hopes to extend the life of the Federal Helium Reserve which is currently set to close at the end of current fiscal year.

The Federal Helium Reserve, instituted in 1960 by the United States Bureau of Mines and currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is a stockpile of helium that provides the U.S. with 50 percent of its helium supply. It has about five to seven years of helium remaining at current extraction rates.

Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) began the hearing by emphasizing the importance of helium in the U.S. He underscored the necessity of developing domestic federal sources of helium, as the current price of helium acts as a deterrent for development on private lands. Furthermore, Lamborn explained, relying on foreign sources for helium, such as Russia or Argentina, makes the United States vulnerable to supply disruptions.

Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) and Full Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) discussed the importance of private development to ensure a steady supply of helium to the U.S. in order to avoid foreign dependency. Lowenthal addressed ongoing and pending private helium operations in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and stated that the Department of the Interior needed to review regulations on helium extraction in order to ensure the environmental impacts of helium mining are properly managed.

Panelists represented government, research, and private sector interests in America’s domestic helium supply. Tim Spisak, Deputy Assistant Director of Minerals and Realty Management at the BLM, agreed that Congress should explore helium production beyond the scope of the Federal Helium Reserve because extending the life of the reserve will only provide a short-term solution.

The private sector witnesses supported the helium legislation because it would help to expedite the permitting process. Scott Gutberlet, VP of Technical & Commercial Services for QEP Resources Inc., explained that since helium is extracted through drilling it is subject to all acts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which can delay the permitting process up to a few years, even in areas where natural gas drilling is already occurring. Gutberlet asked the subcommittee to find ways to expedite this process without hindering NEPA. Bo Seers, President of Weil Helium LLC, echoed this view, saying that even in areas that are drilled specifically for helium they still need to go through the same processes as natural gas wells. Seers said that regulations specifically designed for helium extraction are needed in order to expedite this process.

Ramesh R. Bhave, Director of the Inorganic Membrane Technology Laboratory Physical Chemistry of Materials Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, spoke about new technologies which open new areas and reduce costs of helium production. Bhave discussed new potential in “low-grade” fields, which can have large quantities of helium at low concentrations, which are not currently economically viable. New technology, Bhave says, may provide a means of accessing this helium and is expected to be available for commercial use by 2020. However, Matt Cartwright (D-PA) pointed out that without funding from the Department of Energy this project will not likely be completed.

Questions focused largely on helium permitting regulations. Bill Flores (R-TX) asked if the current regulations are up to date for modern day helium extraction. Spisak answered that current regulations are set up for large-scale operations and are satisfactory in that regard; however, as small-scale operations begin to develop and new technologies emerge new regulations will need to be worked out. Flores and Lowenthal asked several questions regarding the permitting of helium. Spisak said that the BLM is currently working to develop a permitting framework for both cases where helium is the primary or secondary target. Many of the problems, Spisak said, revolved around either obtaining a natural gas lease or working with the current natural gas lessee.

Opening statements and witness testimony, as well as a video archive of the entire hearing, are available from the House Committee on Natural Resources website.

-CDK