Oil brokers and energy company employees investigation will make a good miniseries
The camera now finds a female sitting in a dimly lite room. Her face is blurred to protect her identity as she admits to having sex with a Shell employee. It get's hotter as she talks about passing out her business cards for her sex toy business. by Dave Stancliff
(libertarian)
Friday, September 12, 2008
By Dave Stancliff I've got a great idea for a new miniseries, and it can be part of the popular "reality television" fad.
Opening scene: In 2006 a phone call is made from the Denver Minerals Management Service (MMS) office reporting ethical lapses. The viewer listens as a man, whose face is hidden in shadows, talks about substance abuse, sex, lavish gifts, and rigged contracts!
Fast forward to the future - September 10, 2008. As reported by Associated Press writer, Dina Cappiello, "Government brokers that are responsible for collecting billions of dollars in federal oil royalties operated in a 'culture of substance abuse,' and promiscuity that included having sex with energy company employees."
Rigging contracts and accepting lavish gifts, are more revelations. The set of characters, there are 13 of them, are former and current Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington.
Cameras switch to one of the leading characters, Gregory W. Smith, at the Royalty-In-Kind (RIK) office in Denver. The scene is before he retired in May of 2007, and he is being accused of purchasing cocaine from a co-worker, and at least once, having it delivered to his office.
He shifts uncomfortable in his chair as reports of having oral sex with subordinates, steered government contracts to Geomatrix Consultants Inc., and using government databases and email accounts to conduct business for the company which paid him $30,000 for his work from April 2002 through June 2003, are being investigated.
The camera moves to another office where his lawyer, Steve Peters, is calling the claims "sheer fantasy."
Fade out, and zoom in on the hero in this miniseries, Inspector General Earl E. DeVaney who is addressing reporters, "This investigation has exposed a small group of individuals wholly lacking in acceptance of or adherence to government ethical standards. A reporter asks why the $5.3 million dollar investigation took two years? DeVaney is quick to reply, "The investigation took so long because Chevron refused to cooperate. An Interior Department official near DeVaney says that Chevron would not let investigators interview it's employees.
The camera slowly pans to another location where one of the bad guys, Don Campbell, a Chevron spokesman is saying that "We produced all of the documents that the government requested months ago. He also makes it clear that it's premature for the company to comment on the report until they've had time to read it."
The camera wanders across rows of buildings until it comes to a small office where MMS Director, Randall Luthi, is telling reporters that the agency is going to review the allegations and will take the appropriate action in coming months. Luthi also points out that four of the employees were transferred to other departments last year.
Asked if the inspector general recommendations that current employees implicated be fired and be barred for life from working with the royalty program, Luthi replied, "We are taking these charges seriously and will work with the inspector general.
The camera now finds a female sitting in a dimly lite room. Her face is blurred to protect her identity, as she is admitting having a one-night stand with a Shell employee. It get's hotter as she talks about passing out business cards for her sex toy business, Passion Parties, Inc. She also brags that her income from the business exceeded her salary at the Interior Department. She's quick to point out that she was authorized to conduct an outside employment, and assured the eager listening audience that she never passed them out during business hours, although she admits to selling products to several of her subordinates.
The camera unwillingly shifts to another location somewhere in Washington DC where the House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.VA., is telling a group of reporters that, "This whole IG report reads like a script from a television miniseries and one that cannot air during family viewing time." Of course he's unaware he's being filmed for the very miniseries he alluded to. "It's no wonder," he goes on, "that the office was doing such a lousy job of overseeing the RIK program; clearly the employees had other priorities' in that office."
The camera slowly draws back until you see the White House in the backround. A narrator informs the television audience that "between 2002 and 2006, 19 oil marketers-nearly a third of the 55-person staff in the Denver office- received gifts and gratuities from oil and gas companies, including Chevron Corp., Hess Corp., and Denver-based Gary-Williams Energy Corp."
Suddenly a News Alert runs across the screen drowning out the narrator- "Jimmy Mayberry, one of the employees in the investigation, has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington to violations of conflict-of-interest laws."
When the narrator returns he talks about this investigation being the latest sign of trouble at the Minerals Management Service, which has already been accused of mismanaging the collection of fees from oil companies and writing faulty contracts for drilling on government land and offshore.
During a commercial break we see ads for both presidential candidates debating about whether to open up more federal waters to oil and gas drilling.
In a new camera shot we see three men addressing hoards of reporters on the steps of the Senate building. The first, Sen.Bill Nelson,D-Fla, is saying, "This all shows the oil industry holds shocking sway over the administration and even key federal employees. This is why we must not allow Big Oil's agenda to be jammed through Congress!"
The second man, Rep.Darrell Issa,R-Calif., urges Democrats to reopen a House investigation of the Minerals Management Service that was initiated in 2006 by House Republicans. "Looking into and fixing these problems would have meant highlighting the enormous revenues that domestic oil and natural gas production contributes to our treasury. This just didn't fit into their anti-drilling campaign," he accuses.
The third man, Henry Waxman,D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, tells reporters and Americans watching this reality miniseries that "I'm going to hold a hearing on the investigations next week."
The final camera shot shows an aerial view of Washington DC and we hear the narrators's final comments; "Most government royalties for drilling on federal lands are paid in cash, but in recent years it's been getting a greater share of it's oil and gas royalties in the actual product. More of that oil is being sold on the open market, versus being deposited in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation's emergency oil stockpile. Congress passed a law earlier this year, stopping deposits of oil to the reserve to help alleviate the high gas prices that are plaguing Americans."
As It Stands, the reality is American's are being ripped off with impunity!
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