The Federal Helium Reserve, north of Amarillo, has been the center of global helium production and distribution since it opened in 1962. The reserve consists of a plant site that sits in the middle of 11,000 acres above the Bush Dome, an underground rock structure half a mile below the surface, and the 23 gas wells drilled into it. The reserve is the terminus for a 425-mile-long pipeline that travels through the Hugoton Gas Field, which underlies portions of three states, and connects a few privately built helium refineries that were constructed and operated along the pipeline. From 1963 to 1973, more than 40 billion cubic feet of crude helium flowed through this eight-inch pipeline, filling up the reservoir. The plant on site opened in 2004, replacing the government’s Exell Plant, located 19 miles north of here, which was closed in 1996. The refinery is owned by a consortium of private companies (Air Products, Praxair/Linde, and Keyes Helium) but is operated by the BLM. It refines helium stored in the reservoir to a level that is considered “crude” helium (around 78% helium, 22% nitrogen). This crude is sold to private companies, which refine it to higher levels at other locations up the pipeline.