[1][2][3] The maximisation of welfare resulting from this finite natural resource was the focal point of people of this school of thought.
According to this criterion, a resource is ideally sold at the moment that the profit plus compounded interest is expected to be higher than it will be at any point in the foreseeable future, thus ensuring maximal economic value.
[3] On the other hand, there were people who advocated a more conservationist approach in the belief that the present value criterion resulted in too rapid use of the resource and too little consideration of the needs of future generations.
For example, an uninterrupted supply of liquid helium is necessary for a vast number of university researchers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and high-tech industries.
[3] It has been used in other research laboratories, lighter-than-air craft, rockets, welding under inert conditions, producing breathing mixtures for deep-sea diving, respiratory therapy, and in cryogenics.
By combining customers’ needs, the Defence Logistics Agency substantially increases its purchasing power when negotiating contracts and price.
[4] In 1914, helium was mooted in Britain and the United States as a replacement for hydrogen in barrage balloons and aircraft.
It established a production and sales program under the control of a centralized entity, the United States Bureau of Mines.
When Nazi Germany applied for 18 million cubic feet of helium for public airship travel, this sparked a debate in the U.S., leading to a refusal.
[8] By the end of the war, demand for helium had dropped precipitously and the operation of most production plants ceased.
[3] To ensure that the revenue from future sales would amortize the cost, the Secretary of the Interior raised the price of high purity helium from $12 per thousand cubic feet to $35.
[1][3][4] By 1970, it also became evident that the projected increase in government demand did not occur and that the helium stored in the Cliffside Field would last for decades.
The combination of lower-than-projected demand and private competition resulted in sustained losses for the National Helium Reserve.
The helium companies involved in the operation sued the United States government for breach of contract.
[3] In the 1970s the Bureau of Mines changed its policy to allow private companies to store helium in the Cliffside Field.
[8][4] More recent legislation aimed at fully privatising the helium market requires that the Bureau of Land Management sell off the vast majority of the reserve during the next several years and cease its operations by 2021.
[4] After problems with the helium supply in 2012–2013, the United States Congress acted to extend the life of the reserve.
[8] Another challenge is that the current selling price of U.S. Cliffside helium is too low to encourage more new producers to enter the field.