A scandalous affair

Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 | 2:09 a.m.

Talk about perfect timing. As Congress prepares to resume a debate over the feasibility of approving new offshore oil drilling projects, we have come to learn of a juicy oil scandal with all the trappings of a prime time soap opera.

The players reportedly were energy giants Chevron, Shell, Gary-Williams Energy and Hess, and the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, the agency that collects oil and gas royalties for the federal government. The plot, revealed Wednesday by department investigators, involved agency employees who allegedly engaged in illicit sex and drug use and accepted free golf and ski outings and other gifts from representatives of the energy companies.

Investigators found that some agency employees, based in Denver and Washington, “frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relations with oil and gas company representatives.” The transgressions, which investigators said took place from January 2002 through July 2006, involved “an organizational culture lacking acceptance of government ethical standards, inappropriate personal behaviors, and a program without the necessary internal controls in place to prevent future unethical or unlawful behavior.”

It goes without saying that guilty employees should be fired. But we also believe that guilty energy companies should be severely punished.

Fans of Big Oil are going to have a difficult time defending these activities.

We expect Congress to ask very tough questions of these companies as the drilling debate proceeds. The idea of issuing new offshore drilling permits is itself a ridiculous concept given the fact that tens of millions of acres of offshore sites approved for that purpose sit idle.

But now we have the added element of shady business dealings, if the detailed investigative reports issued to Congress are to be believed.

The American public has had enough of Big Oil and its obscene profits. This scandal merely adds to the growing list of reasons why we need to ditch fossil fuels and rely instead on clean-burning energy that is produced, we hope, by squeaky-clean companies.