One inspector even conducted offshore oil platform inspections while negotiating for a job with the platform’s owner. The activities outlined in a report released today by the Interior Department’s inspector General occurred between 2000 and 2008, and were not directly related to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. But Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the abuses are yet another reason to clean house at the Minerals Management Service.
The I.G.’s investigation was prompted by an anonymous letter in 2008 sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans. The MMS has had other well-known cases of misconduct, most notably in its Denver office where another I.G. report outlined cases of MMS officials using drugs and having sexual relationships with oil industry personnel.
Right, the problem is there weren’t enough meth smoking, porn watching regulators. If there were only three times as many, none of this would have happened.
