There are about 1,670 active oil and gas wells within the Nation Wildlife Refuge System. Nearly 70 percent of those wells are located in the State of Louisiana. In the vast majority of cases, those wells existed before the refuge was established. The Fish and Wildlife Service did not acquire the non-Federal mineral rights, and the owners of this subsurface property have every legal right to develop their oil and gas resources. This does not mean that these oil and gas activities are unregulated. Both the Fish and Wildlife Service in 43 States have oil and gas regulations. In every State in which the Fish and Wildlife Service has identified active and inactive wells, regulations have been adopted which protect the environment and public safety through each stage of the extraction process.