The potential innuendos and double entendres are legion in this story. So, I’ll just stick with my headline for now. Dina Capiello, writing for the Associated Press, reports on an investigation finding that “Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties improperly engaged in sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them.”
Thirteen employees in the Department of the Interior apparently rigged contracts, had sex with oil company employees, accepted golf and ski trips from oil companies, and worked part-time as oil consultants.
The report primarily concerns the Denver Minerals Management Service office. Oil companies are supposed to pay royalties for the right to drill on federal lands. Instead of paying cash royalties, they are apparently allowed to pay “in kind” — in other words, giving oil to the federal government. The Denver office was responsible for marketing that oil received or placing it in the strategic reserve. The government received $4.3 billion in in-kind payments last year.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
The Oil Accountability Project reviews some of the ways in which the public is getting screwed.
Some other stories:
Wall Street Journal
Houston Chronicle
you left out the stuff about the cocaine…
With 2 oilmen running the White House, what else would you expect?
History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes:
Teapot Dome.
OK, I understand the skiing. But the rest of that is just wrong.