Remember back when Newt Gingrich and the GOP Congress killed off the helium reserve almost 20 years ago? Well, sort-of killed it off:
Nearly 20 years ago, Congress passed a law to shut down the Federal Helium Reserve in Amarillo, Texas, by 2015. With that deadline fast approaching, industries that rely on helium are lobbying Capitol Hill to keep the reserve going.
Naturally, the helium lobby — and yes, we’re so deep into the terminal phase of decadence that we have a helium lobby — thinks the 17-year-old law is an emergency:
“It would be as if one-third the world’s supply of oil was instantly pulled off the market — chaos would ensue, and the price, in this instance specifically for helium, would skyrocket,” said Walter Nelson, director of helium sourcing at Air Products said in his prepared testimony.
Instantly. Since 1996. When this law was passed, Windows 95 was still a novelty, Independence Day was the top-grossing movie, and everybody up to and including Al Gore was doing the Macarena.
Just so you know, the “helium lobby” isn’t new, I’ve know about it for almost 50 years! In 7th grade (circa 1966) I won a 4th place prize for writing an essay sponsored by the American Helium Producers Association (I’m guessing at the name, but that’s close). The prize was a book called “Helium – Child of the Sun”, which can still be found on Amazon. My copy is lying around here somewhere, I keep meaning to finish it.
I’m always a bit slow on the uptake, but I’m beginning to understand the let it burn crowd.
If this is really on the national stage with all that is going wrong with our government; burn it down and start from fresh.
I might not be here for the restart, but my children will be and hopefully they will avoid this pathetic political cul-de-sac of patronage.