The Biden Administration sold off the Federal Helium Reserve on Thursday which accounts for 30% of the nation’s helium supply.
The stockpile, which is located underground in Amarillo, Texas, is comprised of 425 miles of pipeline that travels throughout Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, according to NBC News. The deal has yet to be finalized but will likely go to the highest bidder, gas company Messer, according to the report.
The sale was first mandated by Congress in 2013 under the Helium Stewardship Act and was originally supposed to take place in 2021 but hit a series of delays. The Bureau of Land Management said the legislation “seeks to mitigate a helium shortage by enabling the Secretary of the Interior…to continue to sell crude helium from the Federal Helium Reserve.”
Helium is vital to operating MRI machines, setting off concern in the medical world. (RELATED: ‘Just Stop Oil’ Protesters Who Infamously Destroy Famous Art Get Taste Of Their Own Medicine With Rape Alarms)
This photograph taken on October 5, 2021, shows a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine at Neurospin in Gif-sur-Yvette, south-west of Paris. – (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP) (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)
Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at Premier Inc., which works with helium suppliers and hospitals told NBC that while MRIs won’t suddenly lack the power to work, “we are stressing about this shortage.”
“From a health care perspective, MRI machines are the No. 1 concern.”
Saha said the sale of helium reserves could make the current helium supply chain shortage worse.
Others are sounding the alarm arguing there are other issues surrounding Helium production that could be exacerbated by the sale.
“They’re creating an unforced error,” CEO of the Compressed Gas Association Rich Gottwald told Politico. “The system’s going to have to shut down because of these issues.”
The Biden administration had pushed back the sale after Gottwald raised concerns in 2022.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Interior Department, however, said the sale would not impact the helium supply, according to NBC News.
“Sale of the reserve to a private party, as Congressionally mandated by law, is not expected to meaningfully change the availability of helium.”
The largest helium reserves are located in Algeria, Qatar, Russia and the U.S.