I'm looking at the text of the law at the Bureau of Land Management web site: PDF and I'm not seeing anything about a set price. There's a section about the Secretary of the Interior being able to set a price to recoup costs.

The USGS site here has PDFs of the prices. Looks like it started ~$1.70/m^3 in 1998 and has risen to ~$2.15/m^3.

If what the article stated is correct (DoI instructed to sell helium at a constant rate until it was done) then they'd be dumping the He on the market, depressing the price, and altering the market.

Can anyone comment more knowlegeably? Especially as to WHO is buying all that He?

I think you've conclusively proven that the Feds hate people blowing stuff up (by the way, was this on Federal land? Who owned the port-a-potty?)

How does your being a media consultant affect firearms violations? And how does this lead to your conclusion that the "feds hate geeks"?

You are a gentle soul and you've given this ninny much more of your time and effort than he deserves. Well done.