Oversight panel seeks further probe at Interior

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Wednesday that the panel is seeking further information from the Department of the Interior after an internal report showed some employees had accepted improper gifts from energy companies. 

{mosads}“This is not just a few bad apples in a big barrel, and we’re not just talking about isolated incidents,” Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), the committee’s top Republican, said following a meeting with Earl Devaney, the department’s inspector general.

“The wrongdoing Mr. Devaney’s investigation has brought to light is both systemic and endemic. It represents a culture where employees make up their own rules, where the public good takes a back seat to private gain. We’re talking about billions of dollars here. We need some adult supervision, and we need to know why adults weren’t in charge all along.”

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) echoed Davis’s sentiments in a letter to Devaney informing him that the committee will be investigating the department.

A report issued by federal investigators showed that members of the Minerals Management Service (MMS), an office within the Interior Department, had accepted gifts from industry employees affected by MMS actions.

The report details trips paid for by energy companies. During those trips, MMS employees allegedly engaged in drug use and sexual misconduct.   

Waxman intends to probe the role of several major energy companies, including Shell and Chevron, in giving gifts to MMS employees.