From Deseret News archives:
Party over? Shortage of helium is deflating festivity-supply stores
A worldwide shortage of helium supplies has hit the floating canary in the homecoming parade: party supply stores. This week, helium orders were significantly reduced for a number of stores that sell the gas for use in party favors such as decorative balloons.
"It's a nightmare," said Tom Grassley, who owns PartyLand stores along the Wasatch Front. "It's so weird to think about it helium has always been around and has always been a part of people's lives but now it's just gone."
Grassley said that this week an order for helium was cut significantly, and a search for other distributors proved fruitless. A big part of the problem for party stores is that, in the whole scheme of helium use, balloons, while high-visibility, are pretty much the lowest priority.
According to the Bureau of Land Management's Web site, helium is used for surgical procedures such as an MRI, industrial welding operations and microchip production. It is even used to help to cool the space shuttle before re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
Over the past few years, there have been signs of the impending shortage, especially after Hurricane Katrina shut down Gulf Coast refineries, which included helium production facilities. Demand has also been increasing, although the amount of crude available has not kept pace because any increased helium production at natural gas wells would "result in adverse impacts to the gas field, wells, compressors and other equipment," according to an article posted on the BLM site titled "Where Has All The Helium Gone?"
This week the shortage has moved from possibility to reality, especially for customers such as Grassley. A major national distributor, PraxAir, bumped their helium prices as much as 30 percent. Other distributors are reducing current orders and refusing new orders.
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