Government: Investigation of the Minerals Management Service

From an investigation of activities of part of the Minerals Management Service prior to 2007. The MMS regulates off-shore oil drilling.

RESULTS IN BRIEF

We initiated this investigation after receiving an anonymous letter, dated October 28, 2008, addressed to the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Orleans, LA, alleging that a number of unnamed Minerals Management Service (MMS) employees had accepted gifts from oil and gas production company representatives. The complainant specifically suggested that MMS employees be investigated for accepting gifts, including hunting and fishing trips, from the Island Operating Company (IOC), an oil and gas production company working on oil platforms regulated by the Department of the Interior (DOI).

During the course of our investigation, a number of MMS employees at the Lake Charles, LA district office admitted to attending sporting events prior to 2007 in which oil and gas production companies sponsored teams, as well as receiving lunches and accepting gifts. Through numerous interviews, we found that a culture of accepting gifts from oil and gas companies was prevalent throughout the MMS Lake Charles office; however, when MMS supervisor Don Howard, of the New Orleans office, was investigated and later terminated in January 2007 for his gift acceptance, this behavior appears to have drastically declined.

During our investigation, two MMS employees at the Lake Charles office admitted to using illegal drugs during their employment at MMS. We also found that many of the inspectors had e-mails that contained inappropriate humor and pornography. Finally, we determined that between June and July 2008, an MMS inspector conducted four inspections on IOC platforms while in the process of negotiating and later accepting employment with the company. We presented our findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana, which declined prosecution. We are providing a copy of this report to the MMS Director for any administrative action deemed appropriate.

From Investigative Report Island Operating Company Et Al by United States Department of the Interior, Office of Inspector General, March 31, 2010. Also see Read the Govt's Report Blasting Drilling Regulators on Ethics, Drugs and Porn by Marian Wang, May 25, 2010.