Another gas crisis? Helium dwindles in U.S.

bevdbulletin.com ^ | May 18, 2012 | Brad Plumer

[Freedom4US]

Wonder why anyone thought selling it off was a good idea?

One thing though - not a single LCD screen is manufactured here in the U.S.

[The Antiyuppie]

I agree, people don’t realize how absolutely irreplaceable helium really is (at anything less than a few hundred thousands of times the price we pay now), and the few sources we found may have been “lucky” finds at those concentrations that won’t happen again. For many things of the things that it’s used for, there simply is no substitute.

[Nowhere Man]

Guess we will have to return to cathode ray tubes (CRT’s). At least that’s good news for my 1970 and 1982 Zenith TV’s. B-)

[ProtectOurFreedom]

you misspelled eekwashun.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

An earlier piece on this with some of the same info;

http://www.cracked.com/article_19048_6-important-things-you-didnt-know-were-running-out-of.html

[Tunehead54]

Where the frack are we gonna find an NG well? ;-)

[snowsislander]

This public law was sponsored by Representative Christopher Cox. It completely eliminates our stockpile by the end of 2014, just 30 months away.

It can be found at the GPO.

Its final provision is certainly relevant to the situation:

``SEC. 15. REPORT ON HELIUM.

    ``(a) NAS Study and Report.--Not later than three years before the 
date on which the Secretary commences offering for sale crude helium 
under section 8, the Secretary shall enter into appropriate arrangements 
with the National Academy of Sciences to study and report on whether 
such disposal of helium reserves will have a substantial adverse effect 
on United States scientific, technical, biomedical, or national security 
interests.
    ``(b) Transmission to Congress.--Not later than 18 months before the 
date on which the Secretary commences offering for sale crude helium 
under section 8, the Secretary shall transmit to the Congress--
            ``(1) the report of the National Academy under subsection 
        (a);
            ``(2) the findings of the Secretary, after consideration of 
        the conclusions of the National Academy under subsection (a) and 
        after consultation with the United States helium industry and 
        with heads of affected Federal agencies, as to whether the 
        disposal of the helium reserve under section 8 will have a 
        substantial adverse effect on the United States helium industry, 
        United States, helium market or United States, scientific, 
        technological, biomedical, or national security interests; and

[[Page 110 STAT. 3320]]

            ``(3) if the Secretary determines that selling the crude 
        helium reserves under the formula established in section 8 will 
        have a substantial adverse effect on the United States helium 
        industry, the United States helium market or United States 
        scientific, technological, biomedical, or national security 
        interest, the Secretary shall make recommendations, including 
        recommendations for proposed legislation, as may be necessary to 
        avoid such adverse effects.''.

[cherry]

I got about 30 balloons filled for my husbands BD party....the guy stated just what the article says...supplies are low and by next year we won't have any....

ended up popping all those balloons after the party....

this is just a little example of how our standard of living is changing for the worse....little changes that maybe don't bother you but they add up...

[Soul of the South]

“This public law was sponsored by Representative Christopher Cox. It completely eliminates our stockpile by the end of 2014, just 30 months away.”

Mr. Cox was a 17 year Republican veteran of the House of Representatives from California’s 48th District. He also served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission under George W. Bush during the 2008 financial crisis.

[OldEarlGray]

"In applying MIG arc welding to titanium, helium is normally used as the shielding inert gas..."
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Helium+welding+titanium

[OldEarlGray]

[He also served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission under George W. Bush during the 2008 financial crisis.]

And his “regulators” couldn’t find their own arse with both hands and a SQL statement telling them exactly where to find it... or the thousands of Mortgage applications for which the FICO score had been fabricated.

What. A. Clusterfrack.

[thackney]

It's extracted from NG wells.

Clarification: it is extracted from a few, select NG wells.

[GreyFriar]

Gee, I used my official joe biden, democrat party, we don’t want to offend anyone by pointing out that they made a mistake and thus possibly doing immeasurably great damage to one’s self-esteem spell check program. And it said that it was close enough and gave me a gold star for trying to spell it at all.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL. In that case, you are forgiven.

[davisfh]

I am only aware of one substantial source of helium and that is a well at Amarillo, TX. I take it that that source is reaching its end. Interestingly, during the '30s, the Germans tried to convince us to sell them helium for their airships and we declined. That is why they used Hydrogen and hence the Hindenburg disaster.

I don't know what the substitute gas for the exotic welding processes that I mentioned will be, but we have a goodly supply of bright minds out there. I have faith that they will deliver.

[Calvin Locke]

If memory serves, the Soviets had their Helium facilities in Poland.

[MamaDearest]

``(3) if the Secretary determines that selling the crude helium reserves under the formula established in section 8 will have a substantial adverse effect on the United States helium industry, the United States helium market or United States scientific, technological, biomedical, or national security interest, the Secretary shall make recommendations, including recommendations for proposed legislation, as may be necessary to avoid such adverse effects.

Looks like "the secretary" has been on extended vacation........

[virgil]

I thought I read somewhere that this bill also allowed the He to be sold well below market price, which probably contributed to a more rapid depletion.

[HamiltonJay]

Actually this is a result of a law passed in 96, (republican congress) that mandated the helium reserves be “PRIVATIZED” blaming Obama for this one is laughable.

This is more of a short sighted, “the market will fix all ills and is the solution to everything” right wing blind ideological problem this time.

[HereInTheHeartland]

blaming Obama for this one is laughable”

Oh come on. Obama was around in 1996. He needs to share in the blame.