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![handle is hein.congrecreports/crptxacad0001 and id is 1 raw text is: AUTHENTICATEO
U.S. OVERNMENT
INFORMATION
Op
Calendar No. 678
115TH CONGRESS S REPORT
2d Session J SENATE1 115-391
HELIUM EXTRACTION ACT OF 2017
NOVEMBER 27, 2018.-Ordered to be printed
Ms. MURKOWSKJ, from the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, submitted the following
REPORT
[To accompany H.R. 3279]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (H.R. 3279) to amend the Mineral Leasing Act to
provide that extraction of helium from gas produced under a Fed-
eral mineral lease shall maintain the lease as if the helium were
oil and gas, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon
without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of H.R. 3279 is to amend the Mineral Leasing Act
(MLA) to promote the production of helium by taking into account
the value of helium in determining whether a Federal oil or gas
lease is producing in paying quantities for purposes of determining
whether the lease can be extended.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
Helium is a naturally occurring element that is typically ex-
tracted from natural gas, and then subsequently refined to higher
purity grades for applications such as magnetic resonance imaging,
semiconductor manufacturing, military aviation, laboratory re-
search, and a variety of other uses.
Under the MLA, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) admin-
isters natural gas leases on Federal lands. By statute, the initial
term of a lease is 10 years and can be extended as long as gas is
being produced in paying quantities. The MLA also specifies that
the United States reserves ownership of any helium produced from
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