§ 262. Leases to permittees; survey of lands; royalties and annual rentals

Helium Stewardship Act of 2013

To reduce temporarily the royalty required to be paid for sodium produced, to establish certain National Heritage Areas, and for other purposes

To amend the Helium Act to complete the privatization of the Federal helium reserve in a competitive market fashion that ensures stability in the helium markets while protecting the interests of American taxpayers, and for other purposes

That upon showing to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior that valuable deposits of one of the substances enumerated in section 23 hereof have been discovered by the permittee within the area covered by his permit and that such land is chiefly valuable therefor, the permittee shall be entitled to a lease for any or all of the land embraced in the prospecting permit at a royalty of not less than 2 per centum of the quantity or gross value of the output of sodium compounds and other related products at the point of shipment to market; the lands in such lease to be taken in compact form by legal subdivisions of the public land surveys or, if the land be not surveyed, by survey executed at the cost of the permittee in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Lands known to contain valuable deposits of one of the substances enumerated in section 2 hereof and not covered by permits or leases shall be subject to lease by the Secretary of the Interior through advertisement, competitive bidding, or such other methods as he may by general regulations adopt and in such areas as he shall fix, not exceeding two thousand five hundred and sixty acres. All leases under this section shall be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of such royalty as may be fixed in the lease, not less than 2 per centum of the quantity or gross value of the output of sodium compounds and other related products at the point of shipment to market, and the payment in advance of a rental of 25 cents per acre for the first calendar year or fraction thereof, 50 cents per acre for the second, third, fourth, and fifth calendar years respectively; and $1 per acre per annum thereafter during the continuance of the lease, such rental for any one year to be credited against royalties accruing for that year. Leases under this section shall be for a period of twenty years, with preferential right in the lessee to renew for successive periods of ten years upon such reasonable terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior unless otherwise provided by law at the expiration of such period: *Provided,* That nothing in this Act shall prohibit the mining and sale of sodium compounds under potassium leases issued pursuant to the Acts of October 2, 1917 (Fortieth Statutes at Large, page 297), and February 7, 1927 (Forty-fourth Statutes at Large, page 1057), nor the mining and sale of potassium compounds as a by-product from sodium leases taken under this section: *Provided further, *That on application by any lessee the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to modify the rental and royalty provisions stipulated in any existing sodium lease to conform to the provisions of this section.

AMENDMENTS TO OTHER LAWS

Proposed rule

Advance notice of proposed rulemaking

Amendments to other laws

Amendments to other laws

Amendments to other laws

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Amendments to other laws

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Reduction in royalty rate on soda ash

Disposition of revenues

Prospecting permits; lands included; acreage

Lands subject to disposition; persons entitled to benefits; reciprocal privileges; helium rights reserved

Congressional declaration of policy

Helium Stewardship Act of 2013