European Commission publishes report on coal and steel research
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helium with the introduction of the Helium Stewardship Act of 2012. The bill was first introduced in the Senate during the 112th Congress by then-Chair of the Energy Committee Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Senator John Barrasso (RWyo.). Despite the bill’s strong bi-partisan support, the 2012 Presidential and Congressional elections coupled with end-ofthe-year must-address legislation spelled doom for the bill. In the 113th US Congress, Energy and Natural Resources Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) reintroduced the Helium Stewardship Act in the Senate. The House also introduced a version of the bill, the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act, championed by Committee on Natural Resources Chair Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) with bi-partisan support from Representatives (now Senator) Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rush Holt (D-N.J.), and Bill Flores (R-Texas). With continued support from the helium industry and end users, the House passed its version of the bill in April and the Senate amended and passed the bill five months later, very close to when funding was due to end. The bill went through a final amendment process to resolve differences before it was passed again by both the House and Senate on September 26 and signed into law by President Obama on October 2, 2013. The Helium Stewardship Act has established a new scheme to sell helium
European Commission publishes report on coal and steel research http://ec.europa.eu/research
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he European Coal and Steel Community treaty expired in 2002 but its financial assets, built up over 50 years, were transferred to a fund, the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS), to finance research and innovation projects relevant to the two sectors. Independent experts from the coal and steel sectors considered projects funded by RFCS between 2003 and 2010, analyzing in depth 23 projects where quantifiable commercial benefits were assessed. The main benefits reported by the beneficiaries of
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MRS BULLETIN
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VOLUME 38 • DECEMBER 2013
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the RFCS projects were cost reductions, increased productivity, energy saving, new applications, new solutions, and new market share. The cumulative quantified benefit they declared amounted to about €100 million/year for RFCS funding of about €30 million. The experts also estimated what the overall commercial return of RFCS funding would be if the same impact achieved in the 23 projects were extended across the entire European coal and steel sectors. The result: an estimated
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at market-driven prices and sets a threephase schedule to transition away from a federal helium program by 2021. In the first phase the reserve will continue to operate under the current conditions until September 30, 2014. The second phase begins with the establishment of a helium auction starting in 2014 with 10 percentage points and adding an additional 15 percentage points every year thereafter. Federal users will continue to receive priority access and when the reserve is depleted to 3 billion cubic feet, the th
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