WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2008
Sex Scandal Taints Oil Drilling Debate
As Congress Prepares To Debate Offshore Drilling, Ripples Spread From Gov't Report On Drug Use, Promiscuity Among Oil Brokers
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In Bed With Big Oil
Government employees who oversee offshore oil drilling are involved in a drug and sex scandal with big oil companies, according to an investigative report. Sharyl Attkisson reports.
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It's a strange mix, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for those in Congress pressing to expand oil and gas development off America's beaches while trying to stave off an election-year rush by Democrats to impose new taxes and royalties on the oil industry.
An Interior Department investigation describing a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" by workers at the agency that issues offshore drilling leases and collects royalties hit lawmakers Wednesday just as they prepared for votes next week on expanding offshore drilling.
"On the eve of Congress starting this big debate you've got a horror story of mismanagement and misconduct in programs that are going to be a key part of the discussion," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in an interview, adding that it can't help but influence the debate.
The two-year, $5.3 million investigation by Interior's inspector general found workers at the Minerals Management Service's royalty collection office in Denver partying, having sex, using drugs and accepting gifts and ski trips and golf outings from energy company representatives with whom they did government business.
The investigations exposed "a culture of ethical failure" and an agency rife with conflicts of interest, Inspector General Earl E. Devaney said.
CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports the two reports revealed startling allegations including:
Between 2002 and 2006, 19 oil marketers - nearly a third of the Denver office staff - received gifts and gratuities from oil and gas companies, including Chevron Corp., Shell, Hess Corp. and Denver-based Gary-Williams Energy Corp., the investigators found.
"Employees frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and natural gas company representatives" who referred to some of the government workers as the "MMS Chicks."
The director of the royalty program had a consulting job on the side for a company that paid him $30,000 for marketing its services to various oil and gas companies, the report said.
MMS Director Randall Luthi said in an interview the agency was taking the report "extremely seriously" and would weigh taking appropriate action in coming months.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in a statement released Thursday vowed to take swift action, saying that he was "outraged by the immoral behavior, illegal activities and appalling misconduct of several former and long-serving career employees."
"We must and we will eliminate any remaining negative elements in the Minerals Management Service," Kempthorne said.
But the impact in Congress, where lawmakers are debating an expansion of the offshore oil and gas leasing program by allowing drilling in areas long off limits, was immediate.
"This is why we must not allow Big Oil's agenda to be jammed through Congress," said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who strongly opposes any expansion of offshore drilling, especially closer to Florida. He said the report "shows the oil industry holds shocking sway over the administration and even key federal employees."
"This IG report has it all - sex, drugs and the Bush administration officials once again in cahoots with Big Oil," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., whose Joint Economic Committee released a report last year claiming the Minerals Management Service has failed to collect millions of dollars in oil royalties.
Republicans and Democrats promised further scrutiny of the Interior Department agency which last year handled $4.3 billion in royalty-in-kind payments from energy companies drilling on federal lands. Under the program oil companies give the government oil in lieu of cash and the MMS office in turn sells the oil on the open market.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the IG report "raises very serious questions" about the royalty collection process, something especially troublesome "given the potential for expanded domestic drilling." He said some basic reforms in the royalty-in-kind program should be included in drilling legislation.
Wyden said the program should be suspended to "clean house" at the federal agency and "bring back the process of rigorous audits and accountability."
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, announced a hearing next week on the investigaton. "This whole IG report reads like a script from a television miniseries and one that cannot air during family viewing time," he said.
But Republicans rejected suggestions that the scandal makes the need for more offshore oil and gas any less urgent.
House Democrats on Wednesday offered a broader drilling proposal than they had floated previously. It would lift all moratoria on drilling 100 miles from shore and allow energy development beyond 50 miles from the coast if a state agrees. Waters closer than 50 miles would continue to be protected.
The drilling measure is part of a broader energy package that also would roll back tax breaks for the largest oil companies and require them to pay additional royalties, with the money to be used to spur renewable energy programs and conservation.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called it "a strong bill that will increase responsible drilling and invest in renewable energy" and said those criticizing it would "rather have a political issue."
But House Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, accused the Democrats of "trying to pull a hoax on the American people." He said the plan would result "in little or no new American energy production" because states would share no royalties and have little financial incentives to allow drilling.
The Senate, meanwhile, is expected next week to take up several drilling proposals, including one that would open waters off the Atlantic from Virginia to Georgia and the eastern Gulf off Florida to drilling but keep the bans in place elsewhere. That plan also would allow for a 50-mile coastal buffer.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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State Senator Bert Stedman, a Republican who is co-chairman of the finance committee, said that in its contract with the chosen developer, TransCanada, the state bargained away too much leverage with little guarantee of success.
%u201CThere is no requirement to lift one shovel of dirt or lay down one inch of steel,%u201D he said.
Oh Yeah spank it !
Where do I sign up?
Got to love those Republicans. They never stop answering the call to nature.
Does anybody know where you go to put in an application? I know it will be HARD, but I don''t mind.
What a great comment. And, since the majority of the rule breakers are buddy buddy with the higher ups, not a whole helluva lot (if anything) will be done about it either. It''s just the status quo.
The whole scenario reminds me of a lipstick wearing pig rolling around fat and happy in his bed full of cash. He can do whatever he wants because NOBODY will stop him. That''s the oil companies - the lipstick wearing pig - that does WTFever they want whenever they want.
Clintons lil escapade was Bush league compared to this thing right here.
If *** is what it takes to get things done in Washington...Where do I report?!
Id be emperor for life ... a one man branch of congress.
Praise be to Jesus, vote republican.
Posted by wjksea at 04:15 PM : Sep 11, 2008
Oh BS!
Seems to me that altering a few numbers on paper to ensure that are "on message" would be peanuts after you physical slept with - or, more traditionally, got promised a job by - somebody who would benefit from that alteration...
State Senator Bert Stedman, a Republican who is co-chairman of the finance committee, said that in its contract with the chosen developer, TransCanada, the state bargained away too much leverage with little guarantee of success. There is no requirement to lift one shovel of dirt or lay down one inch of steel, he said.
Funny how the so-called liberal CBS news never bothered to report this.
Posted by funzie50 at 04:08 PM
No. Cause if he were still there, we wouldn''t have this enormous deficit. Let''s get Bush/Cheney out ... and keep McSame/Palin out. It''s Obama time!!!
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NO doubt they also have dirty pictures to hold over their little heads.
For a moment I thought you meant KY rye whiskey. Of course with this lot, that''s possible too!!
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Posted by wjksea at 04:29 PM
Well said. Take Blackwater for example. That security agency is owned by such an evangelical Christian who is now a multi-millionaire thanks to this administration. I won''t even go into the terrible things they have done with impunity, but it is even rumored that they were at the Republican convention as security agents. Previous to Bush, this company had nothing.
You know Sister Sarah is an Oil and Energy Expert and knows how to handle these Oil people...
I wonder if there will be pictures like the Abu Ghraib scandal produced.
A lifelong Republican who now believes that Republicans need to be seriously disciplined and get some ethics.
Posted by usclimey at 04:32 PM : Sep 11, 2008
Better double check your equation, from some of these posts they are well to the right of the decimal point...
Well working for the oil companys I am sure that there are a bunch of HO''s working in the front office and they like them their Young Roughnecks all dirty and covered with oil.
Working for the Oil Company I am sure they never run out of Lube & a 55 gallon drum of KY goes a long ways especaially for the Roughnecks Pillow Biters in the closet.
Posted by aeasus at 04:41 PM : Sep 11, 2008
Good lord, every state and federal employee works under a code of conduct from custodian to department head. I bet there are 30 or so charges per individual here.
Posted by jankebenz at 04:50 PM : Sep 11, 2008
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I ain''t giving up yet!! Our children have to live in this world.
Posted by aeasus at 04:52 PM : Sep 11, 2008
No, never give up,the battle between good and evil is ongoing, good must prevail for us and our childrens sake.
Posted by jankebenz at 05:02 PM : Sep 11, 2008
Yeah gotta protect those kids don''t you folks. That''s why they elect those Great Senators... you know Like Larry Craig!! Got to protect those kids... doesn''t matter if they have no future with a debt we ran up that would choke a horse... got to protect those kids. The Religious Reich is as fake as any humans to ever walk the face of this planet.
The level of ignorance from liberals never ceases to amaze me. They always close a blind eye to the dirty deeds of their own, but are quick to react to an allegation of an opponents. Then they start to spout off about things they know nothing about. They start name calling like kids on the playground, repeating unsubstantiated rumors like they were fact. Mainly because they don''t even care if it''s fact, if it sounds good and they feel it may harm the opposition their all for it. A liberal never lets the truth or facts get in the way of their stories or propaganda rants. Why don''t you understand the fact that if these people did what they are accused of, they should be fired and prosecuted and put others in their place. As simple as that. Doesn''t matter what party they are affiliated with. That''s where liberals fail miserably, trying to understand ethics or morality, they have no use for either. They always try to find a way to use the rumors in their favor even if they are equally responsible. Way to go liberal brain trust, keep it coming, it just makes it easier for the educated and moral voter to make the decision to vote Republican.
Posted by billarynfl at 05:42 PM : Sep 11, 2008
HAH! You just don''t get, do you? Did you read the article, or just the posted comments?
Your ignorance is showing. A 2 year, $5 mil investigation is just a rumor?
I repeat, HAH!
Americans who also have always been free to believe what they like, including a belief that magical, invisible friends are nothing but food for dimbulbs and retardds.
Keep your gods to your self. Don''''t try and force them down Americans throats.
Posted by singinrich at 05:33 PM : Sep 11, 2008
Yeah , you,re so against christians that you had to imatate the name of the christian singinrick. The phoney have no voice!
Posted by wjksea at 05:06 PM : Sep 11, 2008
Don''t know him, but if he reprsents the cause to reinstate God as head of American society and government then he and I share the same vision.
Do I here an AMEN.
Now their crying because the states wont get paid for drilling off their shores which brings up an all important question for all the republican governors on the gulf coast states. "Did we really mean drill here, drill now, or were we just trying to get paid like everyone else?"
Posted by jankebenz at 06:18 PM : Sep 11, 2008
Can it be MY GOD?
Your ignorance is showing. A 2 year, $5 mil investigation is just a rumor?
I repeat, HAH!
There you go again, kazoodan, popping off before thinking. Nowhere did I say I was talking about the article in paticular. True to liberal form you just jumped right in head first without any thought. Typical. Maybe you didn''t read it though . "CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports the two reports revealed startling allegations including: ". You might want to look up the word allegations. Allegations nor investigations are considered judgements. That comes later, you should know these things, they use to teach such general and basic things in school, things like understanding laws and government, pesky little things like that. I know, I know, you felt they were too bothersome to waste time considering, right? Well, you''ll have to consider them if you want to be taken seriously in any conversation. Good luck.
Another example of mindless liberal propaganda. All tax cuts have benefited everyone across the board. If you believe in communism or something of that nature, then you will like the nearsighted and self defeating idea of wealth distribution. If you tax the companies more, they will just add the cost to the product thereby hurting the consumer in the end. They may also just move the business out of the country to a place that doesn''t cost as much to do business. Thereby eliminating even more jobs. The idea of taxing businesses because your jealous of their profits is economically unsound.
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