|
MMS scandal spawns call for jail time, huge fines
September 22, 2008
By Derek Sands
Inside Energy
Congress began cracking down on the Minerals Management Service last week, responding to scathing government reports that found that agency officials broke ethics rules by accepting gifts and engaging in sexual relationships and drug use with their contacts in the oil industry. The House passed a bill Tuesday that would subject MMS employees to jail time and monetary penalties, while energy companies found guilty of ethical violations could face fines of up to $25 million. MMS, a branch of the Interior Department, manages oil and gas revenue from leased federal land. Two weeks ago, Interior's inspector general detailed a wide range of ethical violations in MMS's royalty-in-kind program, which allows oil and gas companies to pay royalties with product rather than cash. MMS can then sell the oil and gas, or send it to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. … Private groups entered the fray as well. The Project On Government Oversight, a group whose investigations have led to reforms of the federal government in the past, issued its own report on Interior's royalty-in-kind program last week, criticizing it for inadequate auditing, mismanagement, and lack of transparency. In its report, POGO called for Interior to abandon the program.
