If the current congress fails to act by Sept. 30, the US will be relegated to a completely, artificially created helium crisis set into motion by the GOP congress of 1996. The effect will be to shut down MRI facilities across the country, reduce a crucial element in semiconductor manufacture, and close off a huge amount of physics, chemistry, and materials research on the behavior of materials at very low temperatures.
Helium Crisis Background
Action: Affirmative votes on S783 and HR527 by Sept. 30 can end this crisis. Urge the congressional leadership to bring these bipartisan bills about what should be a nonpartisan issue to a vote before this artificial disaster strikes.
More below the fold.
So, what set this into motion? This article gives a good overview.
http://blogs.reuters.com/...
Helium is primarily produced from alpha decay of throrium and uranium in the earth's crust and trapped in oil and gas reservoirs from which we can extract it. The helium reserve in Texas was created in the 1960s to store helium in a depleated oil field near Amarillo for use in government and industry in the absence of a corporation dedicated to managing and selling helium. However, through the 1990s, operation was in the red. The helium privatization act of 1996 set into motion turning the operation over to private management once the debt was paid off, and closing the government operation once that happened.
The problem is that the 1996 law did nothing to set into motion the creation of a market that would allow the government reserve & sales to be phased out without disruption in the helium supply. The current bills will prevent a hard shutoff to the government supply and take steps to create a feasible market structure for supplying helium from natural gas extraction in the future.
What is holding it up? We are nearing the end of a budget cycle. There is posturing about federal spending. The House can barely pass ANYTHING, much less a simple bill like this which has bipartisan support and should be a nonpartisan issue.
Nothing in government happens without a push. Please call your senators and representatives and urge them to support these bills, and call on the congressional leadership to act before Sept. 30.