Salazar: IG drilling findings 'deeply disturbing'

[Trillo]

Source: Associated Press

(AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — A new Interior Department report faulting federal regulators for lax oversight of offshore drilling as well as ethics lapses is "deeply disturbing," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday.

The report, which follows up on a 2007 investigation, found that staffers at the Minerals Management Service accepted tickets to sports events, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies and used government computers to view pornography.

Salazar said several employees in the report have resigned, were fired, terminated or referred for prosecution. He said it showed the importance of his plan to abolish the agency and replace it with three new entities.

The violations mentioned in the report occurred between 2000 and 2008, well before last month's disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But the report adds to the climate of frustration and criticism facing the Obama administration in the oil spill disaster.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSsGsiZ18JYxHwuLGeC7Tu4T2nLwD9FTSRBO1

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Warm fuzzies for a few at MMS in exchange for what public good?

[closeupready]

1. So give them a bonus.

:sarcasm:

[joeybee12]

2. How ironic, I find Salazar "deeply disturbing." n/t

[ShortnFiery]

6. He should have been fired ... with extreme prejudice.

On another thread someone told me that it was a KNOWN FACT that the MMS was corrupt since 2007. Then WHY didn't our illustrious Interior Secretary, one each, Ken Salazar, take extra care to OVERSEE these known incompetents? What passes for discipline within Salazar's MMS?

Why isn't Ken Salazar responsible for not supervising a division that he is in charge of?

I'm so disgusted that the people at the very top always seem to "slither away" or "get promoted" when they demonstrate blatant incompetence. It's the Peter Principle on steroids. :(

[woodsprite]

3. Well, we knew all along that every 'house' associated with the

Bush administration's reign of "terror" was nothing but a party-hearty frat house, with Bush serving as court jester.

[SpiralHawk]

14. Yuppers - these are all Republicon Homelander Cronies

Inflicted upon America by the Bush-Cheney Republicorporate cabal.

[ShortnFiery]

18. Yes, but why couldn't Salazar, et. al., in the Interior Dept, MOVE these cronies to

other, less dangerous positions? They could have been "peer transfered" to another department and maintained their appointment levels.

Also, they could have had people monitor these people's actions if they were known to be suspect.

Nope, Ken Salazar does not get a "free pass" just because his department was chock full of BushCo cronies. They could have taken steps to minimize their impact.

[meow mix]

4. all this going on right under his nose.. he better be fired too

what was he doing, catching up on his "Lost" dvds?

[intheflow]

16. Well, no.

The report cited in the OP documents Bush Era abuses. As a Coloradan who knows what a political beast Salazar is, I'm not fan of his, but these reported abuses did not go on "under Salazar's nose."

[meow mix]

19. ah considering the current status of the gulf i assumed it was still happening

seems like the inspections would have gone better if they had fixed it after bush

[intheflow]

26. I'm not happy about the current Administration's response to the Gulf,

but to cut them some slack, it takes a looooong time to cleanse the corruption that was embedded under 30 years of Republican and DLC rule. Salazar couldn't possibly know every bit of corruption in the Interior Department in just a year and a half. Unfortunately, it took this disaster to bring a lot of the problems in the oil industry to the forefront of public knowledge. Of course, many of us knew this right along, but you know, politicians live in another reality than the rest of us.

[Jennicut]

24. No, this all happened (with sex for oil contracts and all that stuff)

during Bush's time. I am not sure how many people are still in MMS from that time. Salazar can be accused of not cleaning up Bush's mess fast enough if many of the same people are still there.

[phantom power]

5. It's all deeply disturbing. Very, very disturbing.

Nothing will change.

[Jennicut]

7. The interior dept and the MMS were gutted during Bush's 8 years. Salazar

needs to clean it up fast or he needs to be fired.

[ShortnFiery]

20. Why didn't President Obama and Secy Salazar do this when he was appointed?

It seems as if they were aware of THE PROBLEM within the MMS but did not take the proper steps to clean up the inspection branch of this entity.

The fault lies with both Administrations and Salazar should tender his resignation.

[Jennicut]

23. Good question. These are longtime govt. workers, couldn't they have been

moved elsewhere? Or if enough evidence was found that there were wrongdoings, fired? Earl Devaney gave his Interior Dept. Inspecter General report in 2008. Salazar had a year and a half.

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. Regulators Accepted Gifts From Oil Industry, Report Says

Source: Wall Street Journal

By STEPHEN POWER

WASHINGTON—Employees of a federal agency that regulates offshore drilling—including some whose duties included inspecting offshore oil rigs—accepted sporting-event tickets, lunches and other gifts from oil- and natural-gas companies and used government computers to view pornography, according to a new report by the Interior Department's inspector general.

The report—which hasn't been made public by the inspector general but was described Tuesday in an email from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar—notes "a number of violations" of federal regulations and agency ethics rules by staffers assigned to the Lake Charles, La., office of the Minerals Management Service, a unit of Interior that manages the nation's offshore oil and gas resources, Mr. Salazar said in his statement.

Mr. Salazar disclosed some of the inspector general's findings ahead of congressional hearings later this week that are to focus on his plan to restructure the agency following the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The accident led to the deaths of 11 workers and to the spillage of thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico each day.

The New York Times also reported on findings of the inspector general's report Tuesday morning.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704026204575266112115488640.html?mod=e2tw

[Oceansaway]

9. i'm shocked !!....nt

[janx]

10. Here is the NYT version:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=600488&single=1&f=21

[NJmaverick]

11. That's why new ethics rules were issued as soon as President Obama took power

[ShortnFiery]

21. Excellent verbiage with EPIC FAIL follow-through by Secretary Salazar.

Regulations don't mean SQUAT unless their acted upon. It's just "pretty words." :thumbsdown:

[rhett o rick]

38. Someone should go to jail. Either BP exec's or Salazar or both. nm

[rhett o rick]

35. Yes but are they being enforced? nm

[Botany]

12. i'm shocked part 2

[rhett o rick]

37. Should BP be held accountable for the cost of clean-up? Or should tax payers? nm

[fascisthunter]

13. he should be thrown into a jail

stop fucking around and hold this freak responsible.

[happygoluckytoyou]

15. PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT....while i put on my look of surprise !

[Solly Mack]

17. Who would have guessed such things could happen? Golly. Gee, even.

The revolving door can be so surprising. Truly, I'm just so shocked. Shocked, I tell you - shocked.

[charlesg]

22. Salazar didn't "abolish" the agency. He merely cut the salamander in three.

It looks like much of the upper management is still the same.

[drm604]

25. How does this add to criticism of the Obama administration?

"the report adds to the climate of frustration and criticism facing the Obama administration"

How does a report about violations that occurred between 2000 and 2008 add to criticism of the Obama administration? Is this just bad writing or is it slanted?

[intheflow]

27. Sloppy and slanted reporting. n/t

[No Elephants]

32. Because he's been in office almost 16 months? And ran on change?

Just a guess.

We insisted Bush own 911 afer less than 9 months--and Bushco did not literally issue permits to Al Qaeda.

[drm604]

33. And Obama has a time machine and can change things that happened in the past?

Is that what you're saying? :shrug:

[rhett o rick]

40. BP was ignoring regulations and taking short-cuts on safety. The Obama admin had plenty of time to

discover this, but they either didnt look or didnt care. This happened on Pres Obama's watch. Remember when Bush tried to blame 9/11 on Clinton? But we held him accountable. This happened on Pres Obama's watch and he owns it. And he still hasnt fired "Brownie" Salazar.

I voted for change. Pres Obama and Palin agree that we should be drilling off-shore. What does that tell you? We are still drilling.

[rhett o rick]

36. Obama said off-shore drilling was safe like Bush said the levies in NO were safe. nm

[lark]

39. Salazar nor his boss has taken any action on this

It's the sin of omission, letting the foxes continue to rule the hen house. Even when they knew of the faulty or non-existent inspections, environmental waivers, etc, etc, they did nothing to stop this and even ended the moratorium on coastal drilling. Why would they do that unless they too are now part of the problem?

That's the issue here and why so many people are mad at these guys.

[madrchsod]

28. salazar is a shill for the oil companies.

another piss poor pick by obama....

[WinkyDink]

29. Are these Bush people who should have been canned on 1/21/09?

[madrchsod]

30. yes.. but obama invited these losers to join him

[CanonRay]

31. I wonder how long this report was buried

before today. These reports don't happen overnight.

[golddigger]

34. Salazar is fucking oil scum.