Helium Program: Urgent Issues Facing BLM's Storage and Sale of Helium Reserves

Abstract

The federal government has been extensively involved in the production, storage, and use of helium since the early part of the twentieth century. The federal helium program is currently managed by the Department of the Interiors BLM. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Interior purchased about34 billion cubic feet of crude helium for conservation purposes and to meet federal helium needs, such as for the space program and scientific research. Crude helium is a gas of 50 to 85percent helium. While some of this helium was used to meet federal needs, most of it was retained in storage. The funds used to purchase this helium became a debt owed by the program. BLM now sells crude helium from the reserve, and the proceeds go into the revolving Helium Fund, which is used to finance the program and payoff the programs debt.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 14, 2013
Accession Number
AD1179348

Entities

People

  • Daniel Garcia-diaz

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accountability
  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Electronic Mail
  • Federal Budgets
  • Finance
  • Governments
  • Heat Transfer
  • House Of Representatives
  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Materials
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Natural Gas
  • Natural Resources
  • Privatization
  • Scientific Research
  • Shortages (Logistics)
  • United States
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space