Instead of, y’know, making sure we didn’t have an oil rig disaster:
Staff members at an agency that oversees offshore drilling accepted tickets to sports events, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies and used government computers to view pornography, according to an Interior Department report alleging a culture of cronyism between regulators and the industry.
In at least one case, an inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug the next day at work, according to the report by the acting inspector general of the Interior Department.
The report cites a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency’s Louisiana office. Previous inspector general investigations have focused on inappropriate behavior by the royalty-collection staff in the agency’s Denver office.
Excerpts from the official Inspector General’s report:
United States Department of the Interior
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
Washington, DC 20240
MAY 24 2010
Memorandum
MAY 24, 2010
To: Secretary Salazar
From: Mary L. Kendall
Acting Inspector General
Subject: Investigative Report -Island Operating Company, et. al.
With this memorandum, I am forwarding our investigative report entitled “Island Operating Company, et. al” which addresses a number of allegations that Minerals Management Service (MMS) employees at the Lake Charles District Office had accepted gifts from oil-and gas production companies.
At the outset, I want to note that all of the conduct chronicled in this report occurred prior to 2007 . . .
Unfortunately, given the events of April 20 of this year, this report had become anything but routine, and I feel compelled to release it now. We have, however, already received a preliminary response from MMS to this report.
Of greatest concern to me is the environment in which these inspectors operate particularly the ease with which they move between industry and government. While not included in our report, we discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternizing and gift exchange -both government and industry – have often known one another since childhood. Their relationships were formed well before they took their jobs with industry or government. . . .
APR 12. 2010
Memorandum To: S. Elizabeth Birnbaum
Director, Minerals Management Service
From: John E. Dupuy
Assistant Inspector General for Investigations
Subject: Report of Investigation -Island Operating Company et al. Case No. PI-GA-09-0102-I
. . . During our investigation, a number ofMMS employees at the Lake Charles District office admitted to attending sporting events prior to 2007 in which oil and gas production companies sponsored teams, as well as receiving lunches and accepting gifts. Through numerous interviews, we found a culture where the acceptance of gifts from oil and gas companies were widespread throughout that office . . ..
Two employees at the Lake Charles office also admitted to using illegal drugs during their employment at MMS. We found that many of the inspectors had e-mails that contained inappropriate humor and pornography on their government computers. . . .
Illegal Drug Use
In addition to providing information about the Peach Bowl trip, the confidential source claimed that an MMS inspector had used drugs, including crystal methamphetamine. The source claimed to have heard that this inspector might have used these drugs offshore on the platforms.
An MMS clerical employee told investigators that she began using cocaine and methamphetamine with an inspector when she started working at MMS approximately 2 years ago. According to the clerical employee, the inspector recently told her that he had not used crystal methamphetamine in the past 3 or 4 months. While the clerical employee said she had no knowledge of the inspector’s use of drugs while at work, she said that in the past, he had used crystal methamphetamine the night prior to coming to work at MMS. During his interview, the MMS inspector initially denied using crystal methamphetamine, but he later admitted to it. He claimed that the last time he used crystal methamphetamine was the weekend of the 2009 Super Bowl, in February. He explained that he had never possessed or used crystal methamphetamine while at work but admitted that he might have been under the influence of the drug at work after using it the day before.
Inappropriate Use of Government E-Mail
The confidential source also informed us that some of the MMS Lake Charles inspectors had pornography or other improper materials saved on their MMS computers.
Federal and department regulations prohibit the use of government office equipment for activities that are illegal, inappropriate, or offensive to coworkers or the public. This includes the use of e-mail to either send or receive sexually explicit or discriminatory material, gambling, or communications that ridicule others on the basis of race, creed, religion, color, gender, disability, age, national origin, or sexual orientation.
We reviewed the e-mail accounts of MMS employees at the Lake Charles and New Orleans offices from 2005 to 2009. We found numerous instances of pornography and other inappropriate material on the e-mail accounts of 13 employees, six of whom have resigned. We specifically discovered 314 instances where the seven remaining employees received or forwarded pornographic images and links to Internet websites containing pornographic videos to other federal employees and individuals outside of the office using their government e-mail accounts.
Your tax dollars at work! More at the New York Times (via Memeorandum).
