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PUBLIC LAW 86-777-SEPT. 13, 1960

[74

ST A T.

Public Law 86-777 September 13, 1960 [H. R. 10548]

Helium Amendments 1960.

SO u s e seg. Citation.

Act o f

161et

Definition*.

Helium conservation. Right to acquire land, m a k e contracts, etc.

AN ACT To amend the Helium Act of March 3, 1925, as amended, for the defense, security, and the general welfare of the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled., That this Act may be cited as the "Helium Act Amendments of 1960." SEC. 2. The Act entitled "An Act authorizing the conservation, production, and exploitation of helium gas, a mineral resource pertaining to the national defense, and to the development of commercial aeronautics, and for other purposes", approved March 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 1110), as amended, is amended to read as follows: "That this Act may be cited as the 'Helium Act'. "SEC. 2. As used in this Act: "(1) The term 'Secretary' means the Secretary of the Interior; "(2) The term 'person' means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, public or private institution, or State or political subdivision thereof; and "(3) The terms 'helium-bearing natural gas' and 'helium-gas mixture' mean, respectively, natural gas and gas mixtures containing three-tenths of 1 per centum or more of helium by volume. "SEC. 3. (a) For the purpose of conserving, producing, buying, and selling helium, the Secretary is authorized— "(1) to acquire by purchase, lease, gift, exchange, or eminent domain, lands or interests therein or options thereon, including but not limited to sites, rights-of-way, and oil or gas leases containing obligations to pay rental in advance or damages arising out of the use and operation of such properties; but any such land or interest in lands may be acquired by eminent domain only when the Secretary determines (A) that he is unable to make a satisfactory agreement to acquire such land or interest in land, and (B) that such acquisition by eminent domain is necessary in the national interest; "(2) to make just and reasonable contracts and agreements for the acquisition, processing, transportation, or conservation of helium, helium-bearing natural gas, or helium-gas mixtures upon such terms and conditions, and for such periods, not exceeding twenty-five years, as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Act, except that the Secretary shall not make such contracts and agreements which shall require payments by the Government in any one fiscal year aggregating more than the amount which shall be established initially in an appropriation Act and which may be increased from time to time in appropriation Acts, or if the Secretary— " (A) determines that the national interests require the conservation of certain helium or require certain helium-bearing natural gas or certain helium-gas mixture for the production or conservation of helium, and " (B) determines that he is unable to acquire such helium, helium-bearing natural gas, or helium-gas mixture upon reasonable terms and at the fair market value, he is authorized to acquire by eminent domain such helium and so much of such helium-bearing natural gas or helium-gas mixture as is necessarily consumed in the extraction of such helium after removal from its place of deposit in nature and wherever found, or the temporary use of such helium-bearing natural gas or helium-gas mixture for the purpose of extracting helium, together with the appropriate interest in pipelines, equipment,

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