Petro-Criminals

I thought perhaps that the hanging of Saddam Hussein supplanted the Friday News Dump this week, but no. I opened up my New York Times this morning, and there it was.

The Justice Department is investigating officials at the Interior Department for simultaneously "consulting" with oil companies that hope to profit from lucrative oil and gas contracts. The investigation centers on officials who have allegedly steered huge contracts to favored companies. (Teapot Dome ring any bells? Anyone?) the director and three subordinates have been transfered to other duties and ordered to cease and desist all contact with oil companies.

In the western states, vast tracts of land are federally owned, and indeed, approximately 25% of domestically produced oil and gas comes from federal lands. The investigation being conducted right now centers on the Department of Interior's Mineral Management Service, which oversees the collection of royalties on the resources harvested from those federal lands. The investigations are looking into whether or not the agency ordered its own auditors to ignore claims of cheating by big oil.

The malfeasance of this administration is manifest and the perfidy is palpable. If this happened on any other administrations watch (especially if the president was names Clinton), the outcry would be long and loud. But in this administration? It's like this is the least of our worries. Just report it on the business pages of the Saturday paper.

But you wingnuts just go on complaining about the liberal media...