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POPS Obama Rewards Palin Muckraker Sarah is still America’s top rated woman politician, and even The One would not be forgiven for being a modern day Nixon in this case.
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POPSWhistleblower cites cult of corruption in Dept of Interior agency He received the Interior Department's highest award in 2003 for his work. But not long afterward, his job was killed. He believes it was retribution for his cracking down on Big Oil and blowing the whistle on what he believes was a "cult of corruption" within the agency. The Interior Department denies that, saying his job was reorganized as part of routine restructuring. Just before he lost his job, he said, one of his superiors in Washington ordered him not to investigate why Shell Oil had raised its oil transportation costs. Maxwell said it jumped from 90 cents to $3 a barrel without adequate explanation. The government paid Shell to transport oil from offshore platforms.
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POPSOil Drillers and MMS Chicks "During the Bush years, the agency has faced harsh criticism for failing to vigorously pursue millions of dollars in outstanding or potential royalties. One controversial program, called royalty-in-kind, allows energy companies to pay the government in gas and oil, instead of dollars. According to the inspector general's report, the royalty-in-kind office of the MMS was rife with ''substance abuse and promiscuity.'' Certain fun-loving employees were known as the ''MMS Chicks'' by energy firm employees, who would generously invite the women to lively social events. Oil and gas companies named in the reports are Chevron, Hess, Shell Pipeline and Gary-Williams Energy. They paid for MMS workers to attend PGA golf tournaments, Major League Baseball and football games, ski trips, a Toby Keith concert, paintball-shooting events and ''treasure hunts,'' whatever that means."
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POPSGovernment Scandal Mixing Alleged Drug Use, Cronyism And Sex
employee from Shell, according to the report. Inspector General Earl Devaney singled out Chevron for criticism, saying the company refused to cooperate fully with the investigation. The company insists that it did cooperate, turning over more than 13,000 pages of e-mails and expense records that are cited repeatedly in the report. As for the employees, Chevron respected their legal right not to talk to investigators. "We began an investigation of the allegations right away, when we first got wind of it. We've been looking at this for a while," said Campbell. The specific office handled the agency's "royalty in kind" program, in which companies give the government oil instead of cash royalties. That oil - worth about $4.3 billion in 2007 - can then go into the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve or be sold on the market. The inspector general's report immediately became fodder for the offshore oil drilling debate playing a central role in the presidential race.
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POPSPelosi: Oil Companies Should Pay Royalties The government grants private companies “leases” for the resources in exchange for a portion called a royalty. Democrats have been clamoring for legislation that allowed oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in 1998 and 1999 to pay a reduced royalty even though the price of oil had risen substantially. The royalty break was an incentive to drill amid low oil prices. Democrats have suggested that companies be required to repay the back royalties if they want federal leases in the future. Republicans have called that a breach of contract with the drillers. In addition, The Denver Post reported Sunday that federal investigators are preparing to release a report detailing improper relationships between Interior Department officials who oversee offshore drilling and oil executives, including golf outings, ski trips and romantic liaisons. Also, Pelosi has been pushing to end tax breaks granted to oil companies.
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