Executive Order 10755—Transferring From the Department of the Navy to the Housing and Home Financing Agency, Subject to Reservation of Mineral Rights, Certain Land Located Withing Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 2

WHEREAS, by Executive order of December 13, 1912, certain public lands in the State of California were withdrawn under the general withdrawal act of June 25, 1910, 36 Stat. 847 (43 U.S.C. 141-143), and reserved for the exclusive use and benefit of the United States Navy and designated as Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 2; and

WHEREAS the Secretary of the Navy made certain lands within the said reserve available to the Federal Works Agency in 1941 for use as a site for a defense-housing project; and

WHEREAS the housing project constructed thereon has since been acquired by the Housing and Home Finance Agency; and

WHEREAS the Housing and Home Finance Agency has determined that the housing is no longer needed for public purposes, and that it cannot be disposed of advantageously unless sold in place, together with the surface rights to the tract of land on which the housing is situated; and

WHEREAS the Housing and Home Finance Agency has requested the Department of the Navy to transfer to it the surface rights to the said tract of land in order to facilitate the public sale of the housing project; and

WHEREAS, after full consideration, the Navy has determined that the requested transfer of the surface rights to such tract would not be inconsistent with the planned use of the said reserve, inasmuch as the rights to the oil and gas underlying such tract would remain under the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the Secretary of the Navy, and any oil and gas located therein could be removed by directional drilling from surrounding Navy-controlled areas; and

WHEREAS the Armed Services Committees of the Congress have been consulted regarding the effect of the proposed transfer on the operation of the Naval Petroleum Reserves, and have expressed no objection thereto; and

WHEREAS it appears that the requested transfer would be in the public interest:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said act of June 25, 1910, and as President of the United States, it is ordered that the following-described tract of land be, and it is, hereby, excluded from Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 2 and transferred, subject to the continuation until termination of all valid existing permits, easements, rights-of-way, and other rights heretofore granted and administered by the Secretary of the Navy, from the Department of the Navy to the Housing and Home Finance Agency for defense-housing purposes: Provided, that this exclusion and transfer shall not include the oil and gas and other mineral rights in and to such land, but that all deposits of oil and gas and other minerals therein shall be retained in, and remain a part of, the said Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 2, for the exclusive use and benefit of the United States Navy:

That portion of the NE 1/4 SE 1/4 sec. 12, T. 82 13., R. 23 E., M. D. B. & M., in the County of Kern, State of California, described more specifically as follows:

Beginning at a point, which is a United States Land Office corner brass cap and a 2-inch iron pipe marking the SE corner of the NE 1/4 SE 1/4 sec. 12, as shown on Record of Survey Map recorded in Book 5, Page 61, of Record of Survey Maps in the office of the Kern County Recorder;

Thence S. 89°21'30" W., a distance of 1321.24 ft., to a point on the south line of the NE 1/4 SE 1/4 sec. 12;

Thence N. 0°14'50" W., a distance of 552.12 ft.;

Thence N. 89°21'30" E., a distance of 1321.86 ft., to a point on the east line of sec. 12;

Thence S. 0°11'0" E., along said east line of sec. 12, a distance of 662.12 ft., to the point of beginning; containing 18.75 acres.

The said Executive order of December 13, 1912, is modified accordingly.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE,

February 22, 1958.