Some U.S. government employees are in really hot water, and not the jacuzzi-shaped kind they’d like it to be. According to three reports delivered to Congress today, a $5.3 million investigation uncovered “a culture of ethical failure” amongst the Interior Department. The department’s inspector general – Earl E. Devaney – found that over a dozen current and former employees had engaged in such transgressions.

Here’s where it gets real juicy! Like something straight out of a Kid Rock video, the allegations include drug use, sexual relations between federal employees and oil company employees, rigging oil contracts, working part-time as oil consultants, and accepting gifts like golf and ski trips. Somewhat amusingly, Devaney had this to say of the Minerals Management Service (MMS):

“Sexual relationships with prohibited sources cannot, by definition, be arms-length.”

The report details how one employee admitted to a one-night-stand with a Shell employee, and that she had also passed out business cards for her sex toy business – Passion Parties Inc. While two other employees had received gifts including dinners and tickets to various shows on at least “135 occasions from four major oil and gas companies.” Not surprising as the MMS has been under fire in the past for oversight failures. You can read the report here: U.S. Oil Program Rife with Conflicts, Favoritism, Promiscuity.

And while I have accepted that the oil industry is in bed with our current Administration, this is a little too literal!

Yes, we have a bit of a quandary with respect to oil. Since we use about 25-percent of the world’s oil, we are what one might call dependent. Hell, we make crack addicts look moderate. But recently we’ve suffered through some pretty high gas prices, all while the oil industry raked in record breaking profits. And of course, instead of pushing conservation the focus is mainly on domestic drilling. Threats are coming from both sides of the aisle to do something. And this latest oil-related scandal has fueled the fire even more, pun intended.

“This report documents the ‘pervasive culture of exclusivity’ that has cheated the American taxpayer out of the billions of dollars owed them by the oil companies,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “This all shows the oil industry holds shocking sway over the administration and even key federal employees,” said Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who is an opponent of expanded offshore leasing.

But what is that something? Off-shore drilling is the latest fad. Arguments for and against it have graffitied more blogs than pictures of a pantiless Britney Spears. But in the end, that won’t matter. Peak oil skeptic or not, the oil industry is on it’s way out.

Stay tuned: The Oil Industry: A Grand Ole Pyramid-Scheme (Part Two)

Related Posts:

Don’t Be Fuelish: Offshore Drilling Will Only Leave Us Screwed

Poll: Americans Don’t Think More Drilling Will Lower Gas Prices

Bush Lifts Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling – Why it Matters and Why it Doesn’t

The Dems Fold With A New Offshore Drilling Plan

Image source: Diana Blackwell on Flickr