The most wacko of all antt-balloon claims is that “the world is facing a helium shortage”.
Right.
An inert gas which can be extracted from the atmosphere and returns to that atmosphere.
Troika ping.
Not so. Isn't a lot of helium a by-product of oil drilling? And because of increased oil production in the USA, that has made the USA the number one producer of oil, we are seeing abundant production of natural gas as a by-product of oil production. And helium is a by-product of natural gas processing. The world has seen a great increase in helium production. Made in the USA for world-wide distribution.
But helium is so light that it rises to the top of the atmosphere and escapes into space.
You don't extract He from the atmosphere. You could, but it would be insanely expensive due to the extremely low atmospheric concentration levels. A lot of it comes as a by product of natural gas wells, but there are other sources. Given its important uses in certain applications, I question it's use in balloons and whatnot myself, but that should really be an economic thing, not something banned by legislation.
The U.S. has a 'strategic helium reserve' that has been in place since WWI. I would also question the need for that, but I'm not sure at this point how much they have sequestered, or what that particular boondoggle currently costs.