IV-449 



has been a steady attrition of estuarine marsh area for industrial 

 development in recent vears. The example is taken from testimony 

 presented by Mr. Allston Jenkins, representing Philadelphia 

 Conservationists, Inc., before a Congressional Subcommittee in 

 March, 1967. 



(1 ) "In 1955 The Tidewater Oil Company started acquiring 

 some of the finest estuarine marshes in the State 

 of Delaware for the purpose of constructing a large 

 refinery in the vicinity of Delaware City about 30 

 miles north of the Bombay Hook National Wildlife 

 Refuge. State conversation officials and citizen 

 grouDS endeavored to persuade the company to locate 

 its refinery on land other than the estuarine 

 marshland. It was of no avail. Some 1,000 acres 

 of productive estuarine marshes were purchased, 

 filled-in, and lost as a natural resource. 

 (2 ) In 1961 the Shell Oil Company started a similar 

 acquisition of estuarine marshes in Delaware upon 

 which to construct a large refinerv in the vicinty 

 of Smyrna about 5 miles north of the Bombay Hook 

 National Wildlife Refuge. Efforts of State conser- 

 vation officials and citizen groups to persuade the 

 comoanv to locate on the upland instead of on the 

 marshes have proved futile. The company has ac- 

 quired some 1,000 acres of natural estuarine marsh 



