Dear Editor
Dear Editor Slippery Decision Richard J. Margolis, in his column on "Winning Back the West" (NL, September 26), mentions "Standard Oil" as a major landowner in California's Westlands Water...
...One hopes that Secretary Andrus will not be fooled by this latest attempt to pour oil on Federal waters...
...Dena Perenski...
...That is one of the questions now confronting the Secretary of Interior, and despite Socal's easy assurances, there appears to be no simple answer...
...Margolis is apparently unaware that California Standard has never signed a contract for use of any irrigation water in the Westlands Water District...
...Socal's 12,840 acres in the Westlands Water District are held primarily for known or potential mineral value by Chevron U.S.A., the company's domestic oil and gas subsidiary...
...The fact is, from an engineering standpoint the water wells used by Socal's agricultural lessees, though privately owned, are as much a part of the Federal water system as is the nearby San Luis canal, which is U.S.-built and tax-financed...
...Long Branch, N.J...
...Most of the lands suitable for agriculture have been leased to nearby farmers-some large and some small-and the only source for irrigation of any of the lands is from water wells located on that land...
...Indeed, the canal was built specifically in response to local growers who complained that their wells were running dry...
...Then again, it may not be true...
...It may be technically true that because the corporation has never signed a contract for use of Federal irrigation facilities in the Westlands Water District, its extensive holdings there are not subject to Reclamation Act restrictions...
...They were drilling deeper and deeper," a resident there told me recently...
...San Francisco, Cal...
...Face-Lift Congratulations on your "face-lift" ("Between Issues," NL, August 15...
...Margolis has misinformed his readers...
...Clair Ghylin General Manager-land Western Region, Chevron U.S.A...
...As people say around here, 'They were mining themselves out of business.'" The subsequent lobbying in Washington was fierce, and the upshot was the Westlands Water District with its San Luis canal, completed in 1968...
...Dear Editor Slippery Decision Richard J. Margolis, in his column on "Winning Back the West" (NL, September 26), mentions "Standard Oil" as a major landowner in California's Westlands Water District, and implies that because of the Interior Department's proposal to limit landowners who use Federally-subsidized water to 160 acres per person, Standard of California among other corporations will have to sell its holdings...
...Much of the land has no agricultural value beyond marginal grazing in years when winter rains produce a little grass...
...To paraphrase the last sentence of his story, he should keep one eye open the next time he slumbers...
...The magazine is much cleaner, more attractive and easier to read...
...The company based its policy on knowledge of the Reclamation Act of 1902, the law that Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andrus now proposes to enforce...
...The level and output of the wells benefit appreciably from the presence of the canal...
...Now Socal wants the best of both worlds: the subsidized water and carte blanche on the size of its land holdings...
...Richard J. Margolis replies: I am sorry that my little essay has caused Socal's ire to rise as high as its Federally-subsidized water table...
...its waters saturate the entire district, not just the sections that happen to be under a Federal irrigation contract...
...Consequently, the proposed new regulations have absolutely no impact on the company...
Vol. 60 • November 1977 • No. 22
