Helium’s new status exposes colonial extraction legacies and geopolitical energy myths
Original framing: “U.S. Energy Department designates helium as critical material” — The Hindu
The Navajo Nation’s legal challenges to helium extraction on their land—particularly around the **San Juan Basin** in New Mexico—highlight how helium’s designation as a 'critical material' repeats patterns of **resource colonialism**. The Bureau of Land Management’s 2020 environmental impact statement for helium leasing ignored Navajo concerns about groundwater depletion and sacred site contamination, framing extraction as an 'economic opportunity' rather than a violation of tribal treaties. Meanwhile, the **Diné (Navajo) concept of *Hózhǫ́* (harmony)** is directly threatened by helium’s extraction, which disrupts the balance between land, water, and people—a disruption the U.S. government frames as 'progress.' The designation also erases the fact that helium was first discovered in the U.S. on **Navajo land** in 1905, yet the tribe has never been consulted on its 'critical' status.
The U.S.
Energy Department’s designation of helium as a 'critical material' is less about **scarcity** and more about **reasserting control** over a resource whose extraction has long been entangled with **colonialism, militarization, and corporate power**. The framing obscures that helium’s 'criticality' is a **construct**—one that repeats the mistakes of the **1925 Helium Act**, which tied the resource to **fossil fuel infrastructure and defense budgets** while ignoring Indigenous land rights and environmental harms. Global South models, from **Tanzania’s helium-to-power projects** to **India’s recycling systems**, prove that helium’s future need not be dictated by **resource nationalism** but could instead serve as a **tool for energy sovereignty and climate resilience**. The trickster edge of this story lies in the **absurdity of hoarding a gas that floats away**—a metaphor for how **myths of scarcity** justify endless extraction. To break this cycle, solutions must center **Indigenous stewardship**, **demilitarization**, and **circular economy principles**, while exposing the **power structures** that have treated helium as a **zero-sum commodity** rather than a **common good**.