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CQ: Officials Covered Up Oil Lease Problems, IG Says
Uh-oh. The Interior Department's internal watchdog says top officials at the agency knew about problems costing taxpayers as much as $10 billion in revenue, but tried to hide the problem from the public, according to Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Tollefson.
One official may even have lied to Congress about when she knew things were screwy with her agency's energy contracts, which have allowed companies like ExxonMobil and Shell to pay billions less than they should have to extract oil and gas from federal lands, CQ reports:
A much-anticipated report to Congress will allege that Interior Department officials covered up a problem with oil and gas leases after it was discovered in 2000, according to congressional aides.The Interior Department inspector general (IG) also has been investigating whether Johnnie Burton, head of the agency that collects royalties, might have been told about the problem earlier than she said in congressional testimony last fall.

Comments (70)
Calixta wrote on January 15, 2007 1:10 PM:This is unbelievably belivable. Is this administration trying to bankrupt the country? I think Bush is a Manchurian Candidate.
ulla wrote on January 15, 2007 1:45 PM:I would like to know how close is Johnnie Burton to the Cheneys?
jay k. wrote on January 15, 2007 3:25 PM:my guess is that johnnie burton is the donor for mary's kid.
mike wrote on January 15, 2007 4:32 PM:One disturbing aspect of this matter is that the deficient contracts (e.g., without the special price-based royalty provisions) were executed by career staff during the Clinton and Bush2 administrations. The problem with non-disclosure may be that it has led to many more contracts without the requisite provisions.
Mark-Alan Lynch wrote on January 15, 2007 4:43 PM:In considering this latest travesty about the manner in which the imbeciles running OUR government, are running it/ripping us off, it helps to remember that these clowns are not really human. Humans have BLOOD running through their veins, whereas these blowhard have OIL running through theirs- CRUDE oil at that.
NB wrote on January 15, 2007 5:09 PM:As tempting as it is to attribute Interior's embezzlement to Bush/Cheney cronyism, this is truly the way the D.O.I. has operated for decades. Just ask the Indians around the west, and Eloise Cobell, the Montana state congresswomen who's life has been threatened for trying to get to the bottom of it all.
Craig Davie wrote on January 15, 2007 6:28 PM:Ever since the multi-national oil corporations (led by American based Texaco, Mobil, Exxon & others) conspired with the third-world type countries to monopolize and control this vital commodity (the formation of OPEC) in the '50's and '60's, the dpth of theft and corruption has been immeasureable.
The petroleum industry, above all other industries, should be nationalized...the stockholders (except for the top officers) should be paid for their investments and the CEO's and top officials should be hurried off to jail for long prison terms.
No group has caused more misery worldwide through their control of a common resource than the 'oil bidness'.
raginmudman
ray wrote on January 15, 2007 8:04 PM:If George W. Bush is Warren Harding then this is Teapot Dome
Craig Davie wrote on January 15, 2007 9:46 PM:Teapot Dome under Harding in comparison to the amounts pilfered by Oil Producers from U.S. TAX-PAYER owned royalties AND the royalties from various Indian-Tribal-owned minerals, usually with the knowledge, if not the complicity, of the Department of Interior crooks is like comparing a large firecracker to a 2,000-pound bomb.
One Wichita, Kansas oil company alone, during an interior company legal squabble, was listed as having STOLEN $1-Billion-plus from Oklahoma Indian Tribal lands over the preceding two decades. The squabble was settled before the charge put forth by one of the litigants was proven or dis-proven.
raginmudman
Dan Isaacs wrote on January 15, 2007 11:36 PM:Um, if the problem was covered up in 2000, doesn't that put it under Clinton's watch? Not that I'm at all defending Bush and his fellow criminals, but credit where credit is due. ;)
RudyTahuti wrote on January 16, 2007 5:34 AM:The larger issue is about who covered it up.
The Waxman cometh!
Anonymous wrote on January 16, 2007 10:09 AM:This one is pretty clear cut. Bush always says that the federal government's funds/revenues are "The Peoples' Money."
"The People's Money" was possibly stolen with the complicity of a Bush appointee. I would hope the President is concerned about this.
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