The Timberjay

REGIONAL — In congressional hearings, press releases, and other public comments, Rep. Pete Stauber has claimed repeatedly that the recently repealed mining ban affecting 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest was impeding efforts to develop potential helium resources in that portion of the Superior National Forest. He suggested that expansion of the Pulsar Helium project, which is currently exploring on private mineral lands not subject to the ban, was now free to expand its search efforts in the region. Yet a deep dive into the process and regulatory framework of gas production on both state and federal lands reveals that Stauber’s claims on the subject have sometimes been at odds with the facts, and that the region may still be many years from experiencing any significant helium extraction from federal lands. To understand why, it’s important to know how most helium is currently produced. Virtually all helium in the U.S. and around the world is isolated as a relatively modest byproduct of natural gas production. Most natural gas wells produce about 70-90 percent methane, along with a range of other gases or contaminants, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, water vapor, and helium making up the rest in varying quantities. Gas producers are able to separate out the other gases, which can sometimes be used as an additional revenue stream. Helium concentrations of 0.5 percent or above can often be economically separated and sold for a wide range of uses. Deposits of the purity and potential quantity of the helium deposit currently being developed by Pulsar Helium near Babbitt, are exceedingly rare, and that’s almost certainly true even here in northeastern Minnesota. To get a sense of that, consider that over the past hundred years, mineral prospectors have drilled thousands of bore holes across the region, some of them thousands of feet deep. Only one has been known to have tapped a potentially economical deposit of helium. In other words, randomly drilling for helium in the region would be the equivalent of searching for a needle in a haystack. That’s why companies exploring for gas deposits, whether methane, helium, or hydrogen, typically start at the surface and rely on geophysical methods to try to identify anomalies that could indicate deposits of gas. That most often involves the use of “thumpers” of various sizes, which create vibrations in the ground, and geophones that record the response to those vibrations. Geologists can use that data to begin to gain a better picture of the potential resource beneath their feet. The seismic work takes considerable time and isn’t cheap, but it’s far cheaper than randomly drilling for gas, particularly in a region like northeastern Minnesota. Wildcatting might be an economical prospect in the Permian Basin or North Dakota’s Bakken. In northern Minnesota, it would be a quick route to bankruptcy. Because that exploratory work is undertaken from the surface, the Biden-era mining ban didn’t limit the ability of firms to explore within the area subject to the ban. Indeed, Aaron Kania, the recently retired district ranger on the Superior’s Kawishiwi District, said he worked closely with Pulsar on the company’s exploration plan. Other companies, as well, have been exploring in the area, using “thumper trucks” as the Timberjay has previously reported. Such activity was never prohibited by the mining ban. Federal regulatory regime not in place While it will likely be years, if ever, before the surface level exploratory work transitions to actual gas drilling in northeastern Minnesota, it isn’t clear how drilling would be permitted at present, with or without the mining ban. According to Robert Anderson, who served as Solicitor for the Interior Department under President Biden, there is no current regulatory framework that would appear to allow for helium extraction outside the usual oil and gas leasing program, which likely wouldn’t be applicable in Minnesota. Anderson, who lives near Ely, said he doesn’t recall that any company sought to drill for gas within the area subject to the mining ban, at least while he remained in office. As for Stauber’s claim that the ban somehow limited Pulsar’s work, Anderson called that “off-base.” “The withdrawal did not preclude non-invasive exploration,” he confirmed. And given the federal government’s lack of a permitting framework for helium exploration by itself, Anderson said there’s no way to do helium drilling on federal mineral rights, at least currently. He’s not the first one to note the problem. Denver-based oil and gas attorney Amy Seneshen and Dr. David Seneshen, of Geochemical Insight, explored the complexities of obtaining rights to helium without first obtaining an oil and gas lease in a 2021 presentation to the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Annual Institute. “As a practical matter, in order to extract helium on federal lands, a party needs: (1) a federal oil and gas lease, (2) helium authorization from the BLM Director in the form of a “helium waiver,” and (3) a helium sales contract with BLM’s Amarillo field office,” they wrote in their analysis. “There are no federal regulations that apply specifically to development of helium on federal lands,” they added. The lack of federal regulations isn’t the only hurdle to helium development on the Superior National Forest. Oil and gas leasing is not currently authorized in the forest’s management plan. Approving an amendment to the forest plan to establish an oil and gas leasing program on the Superior would likely be complicated and highly controversial. Interest is there While the prospect of striking oil or natural methane in northeastern Minnesota is likely close to zero, there has been some interest from companies exploring for helium and hydrogen in the region. According to Mike Liljegren, assistant director of the Lands and Minerals Division of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, several companies have been actively doing surface testing in the state under what’s known as a Regional Geological Resource Allocation, or RGRA, permit. But as with the federal government, Minnesota hasn’t had a helium or hydrogen leasing or permitting program that would allow companies to actually drill to confirm any interesting findings they might achieve from surface work, at least on state mineral rights. Recognizing the state wasn’t ready to issue a gas production permit to Pulsar, the Legislature imposed a moratorium on gas production back in 2024 until a permitting system could be developed. Liljegren has been actively involved in developing the state’s gas production permitting process, which is now in the public comment phase after the DNR issued its draft proposal in late May. Public comments close as of July 2. After possible changes based on comments, Liljegren said the DNR is hoping to have a final proposal later this year for review by an administrative law judge. That could allow for actual leasing as soon as early 2027. While it was Pulsar and the potential for helium that prompted development of a state gas leasing program, Liljegren said there’s significant interest in the potential for underground deposits of hydrogen along what’s known as the Mid-Continent Rift, a geological formation that, in Minnesota, extends from Lake Superior through the east-central part of the state to the Iowa border. According to a report of the U.S. Geological Survey released in the final days of the Biden administration, the rift region has geological characteristics conducive to the generation of hydrogen when exposed to water. The DNR’s pending gas program will include all gas exploration in the state and the growing interest in recovering natural hydrogen, which produces no greenhouse gases when burned, could well increase exploratory work throughout much of the eastern half of the state. “We’re hearing from both helium and hydrogen companies interested in looking for gas here in Minnesota,” said Liljegren. The Timberjay submitted questions and sought comment from Rep. Pete Stauber’s office for this story. Stauber’s office did not respond.