So my daughter thought a balloon release would be a neat thing as they leave the church to head to the reception venue. Today, I called the three places that do helium balloons in our town and, get this ... there is a nationwide helium shortage. WTH? Got the same story from all three vendors BUT the last one explained it further than the others, She told me the US never had that great of a stockpile of helium in the first place. But they recently 'disposed of' a large quantity of it even though there are many uses for it besides fun balloons, like lasers used for medical purposes, MRIs, manufacturing, flat-screen TVs, shipbuilding, the list goes on and on. Now, I agree that party balloons ought to be at the bottom of the list. HOWEVER, most of the news articles I found about it (cuz I was skeptical!) say Congress passed a law in 1996 requiring that the underground stash be 'sold off' by 2014.
Has anyone else heard this whole deal? I don't even care about the balloons at this point. No way am I spending $2 each them to literally let them blow away in the breeze. But doesn't this seem really nuts?