We're saved!!!.............
Posted on 09/27/2013 10:14:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
The US Congress, entrenched in a titanic budget battle, managed to come together Thursday to pass legislation that prevents a market shortage of helium.
In a rare show of consensus between feuding Democrats and Republicans, the Senate unanimously passed a bill approved earlier by the House of Representatives that cancels closure of the national helium reserve.
The closure had been planned for October 7, but manufacturers and the medical industry had expressed concern that the move would hurt them.
The Federal Helium Program, operated under the Bureau of Land Management, supplies some 42 percent of the lighter-than-air gas used in the United States, and roughly 35 percent of global demand.
Helium, an inert chemical element extracted from natural gas, has been produced and stored by the US government since World War I. It was initially used for military purposes, including in reconnaissance aircraft.
It is now considered essential for the aerospace industry, fiber optics and computer chip manufacturing, welding, as well as several medical fields including magnetic resonance imaging. And for party balloons, of course.
"The impending abrupt shutdown of this program would cause a spike in helium prices that would harm many US industries and disrupt national security programs," the White House's Office of Management and Budget said in a policy statement last week.
By October 7, the government would have been required to end helium sales to the private sector, which has yet to develop sufficient infrastructure production and could have faced a surge in prices.
Several industrial giants including General Electric, Intel and Siemens, as well as dozens of university professors, started a campaign to lobby Congress about the need to change course.
The bill, which now awaits President Barack Obama's signature, provides for continuation of helium sales by auction until the reserve is gradually depleted.
We're saved!!!.............
Thanks for this thread.
Its an extremely important industrial gas.
The Helium Reserve was created to ensure enough gas was available for US Navy blimps. Out of service for 8 decades now.
And you say, “what horse’s...”
don’t need helium with all the hot ari coming out of the white house nowadays
How appropriate it is that they can all come together to make sure that hot air balloons can stay afloat.
As with all bills these days, there is pork tacked onto it:
http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2013/09/timber_payments_for_oregon_cou.html
Probably more than just this, too.
As afr as I know, you can get as much as you want here:
http://www.airgas.com/browse/product_list.aspx?catID=194&WT.svl=194
If only we could harness the gasbags in Congress...
As long as the federal government is supplying helium at less than market rates, there will never be sufficient private sector infrastructure.
Make it part of the bill that what the helium reserve will pay for helium will drop by 20% per year, and the helium produces will create their own infrastructure.
We can ‘harass’ them’..............
Better yet, give them a target date for total cut off. They’ll get ‘er done!................
privatize it
I don’t think a lot of people understand how important this is, a finite amount is either mined or separated from natural gas production and stored, keeping the prices moderately stable for manufacturing and medical use is a good thing imho.
The only gas that if released will escape the atmosphere, so once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Always bothered me to see people just waste thousands of cubic feet of the stuff at a time just to see if yes, you can make a lead balloon float or something else as wasteful.
Up, up and away
In my beautiful baloon.
Duct tape congress! That would help.
-PJ
... and then what? This is not a renewable resource?
Most hot air balloons are fueled with propane.
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