American Helium Production Act of 2015

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1226 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1226

   To amend the Mineral Leasing Act and the Mineral Leasing Act for 
    Acquired Lands to promote a greater domestic helium supply, to 
  establish a Federal helium leasing program for public land, and to 
 secure a helium supply for national defense and Federal researchers, 
                        and for other purposes.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 2015

 Ms. Murkowski introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Mineral Leasing Act and the Mineral Leasing Act for 
    Acquired Lands to promote a greater domestic helium supply, to 
  establish a Federal helium leasing program for public land, and to 
 secure a helium supply for national defense and Federal researchers, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``American Helium Production Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. CREATION OF A HELIUM-LEASING PROGRAM.

    (a) Addition of Helium to Land Subject to Disposition; Repeal of 
Reservation of Helium Rights.--The first section of the Mineral Leasing 
Act (30 U.S.C. 181) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence, by inserting ``helium or other'' 
        before ``gas'' each place it appears; and
            (2) by striking the flush text that follows the last 
        undesignated subsection.
    (b) Creation of Program.--The Mineral Leasing Act is amended by 
inserting after section 37 (30 U.S.C. 193) the following:

``SEC. 38. HELIUM LEASING PROGRAM.

    ``(a) In General.--Except as otherwise provided in this section, 
the Secretary of the Interior may conduct a program of leasing Federal 
land for helium exploration, development, and production, in 
substantially the same manner, and under substantially the same terms 
and conditions, as the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to lease 
Federal land for oil and gas exploration, development, and production 
under this Act.
    ``(b) Rights to Helium.--Any lease issued under this Act that 
authorizes exploration for, or development or production of, gas shall 
be considered to grant to the lessee a right of first refusal to engage 
in exploration for, and development and production of, helium on land 
that is subject to the lease in accordance with regulations issued by 
the Secretary of the Interior.
    ``(c) Fee.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other law, the 
        Secretary of the Interior shall collect a single $5,000 permit 
        processing fee per application from each applicant at the time 
        the final decision is made whether to issue a permit to drill 
        under a helium lease issued under this section.
            ``(2) No fee for resubmitted applications.--The Secretary 
        of the Interior shall not collect the fee described in 
        paragraph (1) for any resubmitted application.
            ``(3) Treatment of permit processing fee.--Of all fees 
        collected under this subsection, 50 percent shall be--
                    ``(A) transferred to the field office for the area 
                in which the fees are collected; and
                    ``(B) used to process protests, leases, and permits 
                under this Act, subject to appropriations.''.
    (c) Rights to Helium Under Leases Under Mineral Leasing Act for 
Acquired Lands.--The Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 
351 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 12. RIGHTS TO HELIUM.

    ``Any lease issued under this Act that authorizes exploration for, 
or development or production of, gas shall be considered to grant to 
the lessee a right of first refusal to engage in exploration for, and 
development and production of, helium on land that is subject to the 
lease in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary.''.

SEC. 3. PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 
Director of the Bureau of Land Management, shall prepare a programmatic 
environmental impact statement (referred to in this section as the 
``PEIS'') under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) for an agencywide helium exploration and 
development program under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et 
seq.).
    (b) Process.--In developing the PEIS, the Secretary of the Interior 
takes into consideration the Helium Act (50 U.S.C. 167 et seq.).
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