Saturday, September 13, 2008

Sex & Drugs at the Minerals Management Service

According to an inspector general's report, employees of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service(MMS):

"frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relations with oil and gas company representatives."
The MMS oversees America's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf and its duties include drawing up leases for drilling in offshore waters. Through the Royalty-In-Kind (RIK) Program, the government receives oil instead of cash payments from energy companies in exchange for drilling rights. The government then sells the product into the marketplace and returns the proceeds to the Treasury. Interior's MMS has been under scrutiny for years about mistakes that allowed oil companies to avoid paying royalties for offshore drilling rights, errors that government auditors have estimated will cost taxpayers as much as $10.5 billion over about 25 years.

AAEA is no foe of big oil. In fact we like big oil big time. We do not like the "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" that insults the public trust. We are disturbed that such behavior happens, yet we believe many politicians, agencies, companies and individuals prefer such a corrupt system over a constructive plan for Reparations that would correct a horrific historical stain and utilize legitimate mechanisms for land leasing and resources royalties. (The Wall Street Journal 9/11/08)

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