WASHINGTON - U.S. Interior Department employees who oversaw oil drilling on federal lands had sex and used illegal drugs with workers at energy companies where they were conducting official business, an internal government report said on Wednesday.
Employees at the department's Minerals Management Service "socialized with, and received a wide array of gifts and gratuities from, oil and gas companies," according to the department's inspector general, Earl Devaney.
"When confronted by our investigators, none of the employees involved displayed remorse," Devaney said.
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The findings came as Congress considers legislation to expand offshore oil drilling, a priority of the Bush administration, which has been criticized for having close ties to the oil industry.
"It just underlies the fact that we shouldn't be putting the future of our coasts and beaches in the hands of people who obviously care nothing about the public," said Anna Aurilio, Washington office director for Environment America.
Devaney said he discovered "a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" among workers in the royalty-in-kind program.
He said one supervisor engaged in illegal drug use and had sex with subordinates. Several staff admitted to illegal drug use and "illicit sexual encounters," he added.
There was also alcohol abuse among government workers when they socialized with employees at regulated oil companies, he said.
For example, Minerals Management Service staff accepted lodging from energy companies "after industry events because they were too intoxicated to drive home or to their hotel."
One agency worker went so far as to say that a goal of the royalty-in-kind program was to be "part of the industry," Devaney said.
Rep. Nick Rahall, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the activities of the Minerals Management Service staff "are so outlandish that this whole IG report reads like a script from a television miniseries -- and one that cannot air during family viewing time."
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Wow!
What do you even say about this kind of news?
Rock stars don't even live this kind of life, here I am I can't even find a job in Michigan and these asses are partying on my dime like it's 1999.
Thank You U.S. Government for looking out for my best interest and protecting me from corruption.
Welcome To Detroit
