Exell Helium Plant, Texas

The Exell Helium Plant, run by the federal government, was the largest single source of helium in the world before it closed in 1998. In the 1960s, the region around Amarillo, and extending into southern Kansas, produced 95% of the world's recoverable helium, a monopoly controlled by the government. Exell began production in 1943, producing helium for air ships during World War II. It was operated by the Federal Bureau of Mines. During the war, the Exell Plant employed over 1,000 people, and some of the helium was used in the production of the first atomic bombs. After the war, the other Bureau helium plants were closed, but Exell continued to produce the gas for use in rocket propulsion systems, including ICBMs. The plant was modernized and expanded through the 1980s, and in 1994 it employed 100 people. At that time, 98% of the helium it produced was used by the Federal Government, and came from the Federal Helium Reserve, 19 miles south, which it was connected to by pipeline. A new processing plant opened at the reserve in 2004, owned by a consortium of private companies, and the Exell plant was auctioned off in 2011, and has been idle and unmaintained since then.