Released Tuesday, May 25 was a report detailing troubling news from an investigation of U.S. government inspectors that oversaw oil drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico.According to an investigative report released by the Inspector General Office with the U.S. Department of the Interior, confirmed that Minerals Management Service (MMS) an arm of the Department of the Interior, which oversees oil drilling in the Gulf, were in bed with the oil companies.
The investigation uncovered that inspectors in the Louisiana Lake Charles District, had accepted gifts from representatives of the oil and gas production companies, gifts that included hunting and fishing trips, and outings at college sporting events.
Through numerous interviews, investigators found a culture where the acceptance of gifts were widespread, but appeared to have declined after the termination of Don Howard, former regional supervisor at MMS New Orleans office in January 2007. Howard was terminated for accepting a gift from one of the oil companies.
At least two employees admitted to using illegal drugs during their employment at MMS and many others had e-mails that contained inappropriate humor and pornographic material on their government computers.
One inspector conducted four inspections on the Island Operating Company (IOC), platforms while in the process of negotiating and later accepting employment with that company.
MMS inspectors in the Lake Charles District were charged with inspecting about 130 offshore platforms to ensure that they operated in compliance with all applicable federal regulations.
The platforms were owned by oil and gas companies such as Shell, Exxon, Chevron, British Petroleum, Apache Corporation, and Newfield Exploration Company.
Federal law required MMS to inspect the platforms for safety and operational compliance and, if necessary, to issue violations known as incidents of non-compliance to the owners of the facilities to correct deficiencies.
Between 2004 and 2009, platform owners contracting with the IOC were only fined $572,500 because of such violations.
The release also noted that all of the conduct chronicled in the report occurred prior to 2007, and pre-dating the tenure of Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior and his January 2009 Ethics Guide.
Salazar had announced earlier his intent to reorganize MMS into three distinct bureaus in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
The findings in the report were presented to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana, which declined prosecution.
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