WASHINGTON — Ties between offshore oil and gas companies and the agency that regulates them are so pervasive that a year after new ethics rules took effect, as many as a third of inspectors in some Gulf of Mexico offices have been disqualified to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
That makes it difficult to hire knowledgeable and independent regulators in a region where oil and gas interests are deeply intertwined in the economy and culture, and where the expertise and training needed to do the job often are found in the private sector.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that:
• About one of every five employees of 109 involved in inspections in the gulf has been recused from some duties because of the risk of coming into contact with a family member or friend working for a company the inspector regulates.
• Ten people hired since mid-August 2008 were barred for two years from performing work where they could be in a position of policing their previous employer — a company or contractor operating offshore.
• In the Lafayette, La., office of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Enforcement and Regulation nearly 35 percent of inspectors have been disqualified because a friend or relative works for a company they could interact with on the job.
• In Lake Charles, La., nearly 30 percent of inspectors held their last job with an oil and gas company, meaning they can’t perform any duties involving their former employer for two years.
The numbers come from recusal forms under a new ethics policy instituted last year by the Obama administration to identify and prevent possible conflicts of interest before they arise.
While inappropriate behavior has been limited to a few individuals so far, as both Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and bureau director Michael Bromwich have stressed, the forms quantify for the first time the extent of the bonds between the industry and the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service.
“The conflicts of interest addressed by this policy are not crimes or badges of shame,” Bromwich said in a statement provided to AP. “The fact is that they exist because of the close-knit communities in which much offshore activity takes place; they cannot be wished away. The issue is not the conflicts themselves, which have existed for decades, but whether they are identified, addressed and managed.”
Critics say nothing has changed, despite the Obama administration’s efforts.
“It’s nearly impossible to determine where the oil industry ends and the government’s regulatory agency begins,” Scott Amey of the Project on Government Oversight said after reviewing AP’s data.
