Company. When the Sabine Refuge was acquired in 1937 by decree of a U.S. 

 District Court, the U.S. Government acquired only the surface rights and none 

 of the minerals or land lying below 61 m. Thus, the oil and gas under a large 

 portion of the refuge is excepted from refuge ownership and control. 



Likewise, on the Aransas, Brazoria, Delta, and San Bernard Refuges, oil 

 and gas interests on some of the tracts were leased for various periods to 

 individuals or exploration companies. When these tracts were purchased by the 

 U.S. Government, the terms of the preexisting leases had to be honored. Leases 

 were often made for a duration of 20 or 30 yr. However, they usually contained 

 a clause allowing the lease to remain in effect beyond this primary term as 

 long as oil or gas was being produced from the land. Indeed, even if the primary 

 term expired and no oil or gas was being produced, there was usually a clause 

 in the agreement keeping the lease in force so long as drilling operations were 

 being conducted in good faith on the land. If production resulted from such 

 operations, then the lease would remain in force. 



For- wildlife refuges, the result of excepted oil and gas may be that 

 minerals under a refuge are either owned by another party or are controlled 

 through a long-term lease by a third party. The significance of this situation 

 becomes apparent when the rights to surface access of the mineral owner/lessee 

 '^•'e examined. In virtually all legal jurisdictions, it is agreed that oil and 

 gas ownership or lease, in the absence of language to the contrary, gives an 

 exclusive right to enter the land, conduct exploratory drilling, and extract 

 oil and gas until the reserves are exhausted. In addition, unless specifically 

 prohibited in terms of a lease, the owner/lessee of the minerals may use or 

 occupy as much of the surface as is reasonably necessary and convenient for 

 mineral exploration and development. Furthermore, the owner/lessee may occupy 

 or use the surface for these purposes even to the preclusion of any other 

 surface possession whatsoever (Hemingway, 1971). 



Reserved Oil and Gas 



A reservation is a clause in a conveyence, such as a deed, that returns 

 to the seller or grantor a right, service, or good from the property sold to 

 the buyer or grantee. A common use of this device is to reserve minerals in a 

 land sale for later use by the original owner, his heirs, or assigns. There 

 is a shade of difference between the cases of minerals being excepted and those 

 being reserved. For the former, the minerals are withdrawn from consideration 

 in a later land transaction, either permanently or until a lease agreement 

 expires. For the latter, the seller or grantor conveys the land to the buyer 

 or grantee but makes particular conditions concerning the sale. He reserves 

 the right to enter the land, explore, extract, and reap the benefits of sale 

 of the minerals for a period of time. This period may be a specific number of 

 years, though 20 or 30 is common, or it may be in perpetuity. In cases of 

 limited duration of reservation, a clause similar to the one previously described 

 for leases is usually found, allowing the reservation to continue as long as 

 oil and gas is being produced. 



