Free Republic

On Thursday, the U.S. government sold the Federal Helium Reserve, a massive underground stockpile based in Amarillo, Texas, that supplies up to 30% of the country’s helium. Once the deal is finalized, the buyer — which will likely be the highest bidder, the industrial gas company Messer — will claim some 425 miles of pipelines spanning Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, plus about 1 billion cubic feet of the only element on Earth cold enough to make an MRI machine work. Regulatory and logistical issues with the facility threaten a temporary shutdown as it passes from public to private ownership, and...

This month’s announcement from Party City that it’s closing more than 40 stores as it grapples with new challenges, including diminishing helium supplies, likely came as unwelcome news to customers who count on the store for their balloon and event planning needs. But for scientists like Mark Elsesser, the announcement was something of a relief, inflating hopes that the public, and the government, might start paying closer attention. “When it comes to helium, we’re at a tipping point,” said Elsesser, who is the associate director of government affairs at the American Physical Society, a nonprofit association of physicists. “Party City...

Every child who visited Elizabeth House Flowers on South Boulevard used to walk out toting a free balloon. But a long-running global helium shortage means the company – along with other small businesses in Charlotte and around the country – must conserve resources and even turn away customers. At Elizabeth House, free balloons are now out of the question. Helium, a natural resource, is usually harvested from natural gas reserves. The shortage, which has dragged on for a year and won’t end for months, is a simple case of demand outweighing supply, said Joe Peterson, assistant field manager of helium...

AMARILLO, Texas — The second-most abundant element in the universe is suddenly getting harder and harder to find. Party stores and florist shops grounded in the balloon business are caught in a helium shortage gripping suppliers across the country and in Texas, where one-third of the world's helium production is overseen. Supply of the noble gas — second only to hydrogen in the universe but rare on Earth in terms of quantity — has depleted while production from two large international sites is temporarily down. Not helping matters is scheduled maintenance at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's National Helium...