had not been restored to its original condition. The production site was in 

 excellent condition. The equipment had been recently placed, but the adjacent 

 salt marsh exhibited very few signs of damage from the construction activities. 



Delta National Wildlife Refuge 



The Delta NWR was acquired in 1936. The original owners retained the 

 mineral rights to the Delta Duck Club tract, and they had leased the minerals 

 to Texaco before the purchase. On another tract (Romere Pass), the U.S. 

 Government was the mineral owner. Because of extensive mineral development in 

 the area, USGS determined that there would be significant drainage of minerals 

 underlying the Romere Pass tract. Therefore, BLM leased this area for mineral 

 development to the California Company (Chevron), which began to develop the 

 area in 1950. 



Because of the ownership of minerals on the Delta Duck Club tract, routine 

 oil and gas operations do not require permits. Usually a letter is sent by 

 the company to the refuge manager describing the activity; however, Chevron is 

 leasing the minerals from the U.S. Government in the Romere Pass area. Permits 

 have not always been required for all activities relating to this development. 

 In some cases, blanket permits have been given, and the refuge manager is kept 

 informed of activities by short memoranda. He may then inspect any phase of 

 the operation for approval. 



There have been about 200 wells drilled on the refuge. The first well 

 was drilled in August 1941. New wells are drilled each year. In 1972, there 

 were 140 producing wells, 70 on each section. Production on the Romere Pass 

 unit has been as high as 64 million liters (400,000 barrels) per month oil, 25 

 thousand liters (6,500 gallons) per month gasoline, and 57 trillion liters 

 (2 million ft^) per month natural gas. 



Preexploration. There has been a great deal of seismic work done on this 

 refuge, much of which has been explosive; there have been gravity meter surveys 

 as well. Marsh buggies have been used extensively. Whereas the rubber-tired 

 type of buggy has been used in Texas, most buggies on the Delta have been 

 tracked vehicles. The USFWS required helicopter use for some explosive activ- 

 ity by Shell and Chevron, but buggies were still needed to flatten vegetation 

 so that helicopters could land in marsh areas. 



There were relatively few seismic permits in the refuge files. In one 

 memorandum, a former manager noted that seismic activities were specifically 

 permitted under terms of the lease to Chevron, and therefore many surveys may 

 have been made without permits. 



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