Rahall probes revolving door between oil industry, MMS

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) is pressing the Interior Department for information about federal offshore drilling regulators who have worked for the oil-and-gas industry in the past.

The request, in a June 8 letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, is part of a wider committee probe of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and offshore drilling policy.

Rahall’s letter asks for the number of current Minerals Management Service inspectors that have previously worked for the oil industry — including a list of companies they worked for and what their jobs were.

It also seeks “information regarding rotation practices designed to ensure that inspectors maintain arms-length relationships with offshore facility personnel.”

Multiple reports by the Interior Department’s inspector general have uncovered inappropriate ties between MMS and industry employees, such as regulators accepting sports tickets from oil company personnel.

The letter also seeks other information about the embattled MMS, which Salazar is splitting into three separate agencies. Rahall wants data about MMS’s staffing levels in various regions, a summary of the qualifications of current field and supervisory inspectors, information about training that inspectors receive and other documents.