When news of the Gulf oil spill first broke, we wondered if previously reported problems at the Minerals Management Service, the agency that regulates offshore drilling, extended to the Gulf.
The Department of the Interior’s Office of the Inspector General released a report this morning indicating as much. At one Gulf Coast office of MMS, agency officials attended sporting events on the dime of oil companies, stored porn on company computers, used cocaine and crystal meth, and falsified inspection reports. (The above links go directly to the relevant pages in the report, thanks to our ever-handy document viewer.)
The ethical violations described in the IG report occurred between 2000 and 2008, around the same time as another sex, drugs and royalty scandal at the agency.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement that he found the behavior “reprehensible” and the report “deeply disturbing.” Salazar took over as head of the Interior Department—of which MMS is a part—in January 2009. He added that some of the employees cited have since “resigned, been terminated or referred for prosecution.”
2 comments:
Another democratic payoff shoved under the rug and now blaming eveyone but themselfs. Shut down all oil drilling in the gulf!
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