Privatizing the US national helium reserve. Gonna laugh when in a few years the government of another nation ends up owning it. Helium is dwindling finite resource that key technological infrastructure relies upon.

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[–] alcoholicorn@hexbear.net 62 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Helium is technically finite, but it's really a byproduct of natural gas extraction. Most natural gas operations don't bother to even harvest the helium.

[–] WithoutFurtherBelay@hexbear.net 52 points 2 years ago

agony-shivering

[–] Tunnelvision@hexbear.net 8 points 2 years ago

That’s crazy to me. It’s obviously useful, how is it not worth it to extract it if it’s already there during the process? That’s like hearing people back in the day burning gasoline since it was a byproduct of extracting crude oil.