Excerpt
The Obama administration on Tuesday ordered federal offshore-oil regulators to recuse themselves from official actions involving companies that employ their family members or close friends. It also placed new restrictions on regulators' oversight of companies they once worked for.The moves by the new director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, Michael Bromwich, reflect a broader effort by Washington to sever the links between oil companies and federal regulators in the wake of the BP PLC oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
But the rules highlight the challenge Mr. Bromwich faces in pulling apart the ties of friendship, family and culture in the Gulf Coast communities that depend on offshore drilling.
Rig workers and agency employees in the Gulf Coast "have often known one another since childhood," according to a report published earlier this year by the Interior Department's inspector general. The same report found that at one agency office in Louisiana, employees accepted sporting-event tickets, lunches and other gifts earlier this decade from oil and natural-gas companies.
"They work in oil and gas companies offshore, and then come and work for us, and in some cases go back. That's problematic," Mr. Bromwich said in a recent interview.
No comments:
Post a Comment