The Party is Over for Royalty-in-Kind
Employees at the Interior Department have a lot in common with the traders at Fidelity, although there was no midget or “little person” involved this time around. Mental midgets maybe…
A federal agency with an office in Lakewood has taken disciplinary action against employees who used illicit drugs, had inappropriate sex, and took ski and golf vacations from oil and gas executives who paid billions in royalties to the agency.
The actions announced Friday by the Interior Department range from demotion to termination. The agency would not confirm how many employees were fired or how many were demoted, citing privacy concerns.
The eight employees at one time worked in the Lakewood office of the Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department, which collects billions of dollars in federal oil and gas royalties.
The oil and gas is then resold to energy companies or put in the nation’s emergency stockpile. The government received $4.3 billion in such Royalty-in-Kind payments last year. Rocky Mountain News
The office was rocking, but now the investigators are knocking, and the party is over:
“Sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arm’s-length,” Devaney said.
Also, between 2002 and 2006, nearly a third of the 55-person MMS staff in the office received gifts and gratuities from oil and gas companies, including Chevron Corp., Shell, Hess Corp. and Denver-based Gary-Williams Energy Corp., the investigator found.
Of course, with energy and metals prices down sharply business is probably slowing down a touch. If President Obama needs to make cost cuts I know where he could start.
Eight employees disciplined at Minerals Management Service
Rocky Mountain News
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