Grist | Topics | 69 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 69
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
'Prosecution would focus the mind on the ethical problem' House holds hearing on MMS scandal; Kempthorne recommends ethics training	David Roberts	19 Sep 2008	Gristmill
On Thursday the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the MMS scandal currently providing humorists with so many drilling puns. Pelosi's blog has an account of the hearing. (See also E&E News, $ub req'd.) The most amusing part was the righteous performance from Rep. George Miller, particularly this exchange with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne: Kempthorne: '... I would like to initiate an outreach program so we do sit down and we go through t ...
Topics: energy, oil, oil and gas drilling, shenanigans, Department of Interior, politics, video (all these topics)

Sex, lies, and offshore drilling Sex and drug scandal at Interior could affect the offshore-drilling debate in Congress	Kate Sheppard	11 Sep 2008	Gristmill
Yesterday's revelation that 13 Interior Department employees who handle oil royalties are under investigation for allegedly engaging in illicit sex with and accepting gifts from employees of oil companies may affect the debate over drilling currently underway in Congress. An Inspector General's report describes a 'culture of substance abuse and promiscuity' at the agency, which is charged with issuing offshore drilling leases and collecting royalties from oil comp ...
Topics: Department of Interior, energy, Muckraker, offshore drilling, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics, sex, shenanigans (all these topics)

Grease is the way we are dealing Interior Department employees under investigation for sex, drugs, and bribe scandal	Kate Sheppard	10 Sep 2008	Gristmill
Thirteen government officials are under investigation for allegedly engaging in illicit sex with and accepting a number of gifts from employees of energy companies, according to federal investigators. The probe involves Interior Department employees in the Denver and Washington offices, who handle billions of dollars in oil royalties. At the Denver Minerals Management Service, the former head of the Royalty-in-Kind office, Gregory W. Smith, used illegal drugs and ...
Topics: Department of Interior, Muckraker, news, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics, sex, shenanigans (all these topics)

Is That a Drill in Your Pocket ... ? Ethics violations alleged at agency that collects oil and gas royalties		10 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 3:53 PM on 10 Sep 2008 Between 2002 and 2006, a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" existed at the federal agency responsible for overseeing oil and gas royalties, according to an investigation by Minerals Management Service Inspector General Earl Devaney. Thirteen MMS employees (in an office of 55 people) are alleged to have rigged contracts, worked part-tim ...
Topics: Department of Interior, energy, insanity, news, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics (all these topics)

Boxer Beefs Sen. Boxer none too happy about feds' attack on ESA		15 Aug 2008	News
Posted at 3:35 PM on 15 Aug 2008 Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wrote a letter Friday to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne expressing "great concern" over the Bush administration's sneaky attack on the Endangered Species Act. The change would allow federal agencies to green-light many projects with no independent review of impact on endangered species -- which, uh, kind of defeats the purpose. Boxer asked that the feds &q ...
Topics: Barbara Boxer, Department of Interior, endangered species, news, politics, regulation, US Senate (all these topics)

Bush's puppets EPA administrator Stephen Johnson neglects his federal oath	Joseph Romm	26 Jul 2008	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. ----- Some of us had high hopes for Stephen Johnson when President Bush appointed him in March 2005 as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Johnson was not a former oil-industry lobbyist or Halliburton executive. He was a career civil servant who had been with the federal government for 24 years. He was a scientist, not a ...
Topics: California, Department of Interior, George Bush, politics, US EPA (all these topics)

Shale we dance? Bush admin's effort to spur oil shale production won't do much for consumers in short run	Kate Sheppard	22 Jul 2008	Gristmill
New regulations proposed by the Bush administration are aimed at tapping the country's huge reserves of oil shale, steps Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said are intended to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil in the short term. But one man's short term might feel like eternity to consumers paying $4.50 a gallon, as it would be seven to eight years before production from oil shale projects actually hit the market, according to another top Interior of ...
Topics: Department of Interior, gas prices, Muckraker, news, oil and gas drilling, oil shale, politics (all these topics)

This Too Shale Pass Bush admin proposes rules for domestic oil-shale development		22 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 7:35 AM on 22 Jul 2008 The Bush administration today will propose rules for tapping the U.S.'s vast oil-shale deposits, estimated to hold up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Oil shale development is enormously expensive and spectacularly polluting, but the U.S. Department of the Interior is expected to frame the debate in terms of high fuel prices and domestic "energy security." Presid ...
Topics: Department of Interior, energy, news, oil and gas drilling, politics, United States (all these topics)

Beyond the Palin Alaska will sue over polar-bear listing		22 May 2008	News
Posted at 12:07 PM on 22 May 2008 Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) will sue the Interior Department over its decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species. "We believe that the listing was unwarranted and that it's unprecedented to list a currently healthy population based on uncertain climate models," says Alaska Assistant Attorney General Steven Daugherty. To green groups, that argument is, shall we say, unimpressive. &quo ...
Topics: Alaska, climate, climate change skepticism, Department of Interior, endangered species, litigation, news, polar bears, politics, state politics (all these topics)

The Sound of Two Paws Clapping Green groups sue over polar bear listing		20 May 2008	News
Posted at 11:56 AM on 20 May 2008 In entirely expected news, green groups have sued over the Interior Department's listing of the polar bear as a threatened species -- or, more accurately, over Interior's caveats that the listing not be used as a means to fight global warming. The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and NRDC say the bears should be listed as endangered instead of threatened, and that the listing sho ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, Department of Interior, endangered species, Greenpeace, litigation, news, NRDC, polar bears, politics (all these topics)

Bye-polar Kempthorne Polar bear is endangered, but 'Rule will allow continuation of vital energy production in Alaska'	Joseph Romm	14 May 2008	Gristmill
The Department of Interior suffers from a rare form of bipolar disorder called bye-polar disorder. There is one major symptom of this disorder: You list the polar bear as 'threatened' because of its melting polar sea ice habitat, but then do nothing to actually protect that polar habitat from its primary threat, greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The disorder is accompanied by an occasional burst of logic, as when the DOI noted: The polar bears nee ...
Topics: Arctic, Department of Interior, endangered species, habitat loss, legislation, polar bears, politics (all these topics)

Bearly legal Bush admin to list polar bears as threatened; advocates pledge to continue the fight	Kate Sheppard	14 May 2008	Gristmill
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne was flanked by two large television screens rolling video of polar bears as he discussed his department's decision Wednesday to declare the bears 'threatened.' The video bears -- and the bears in the many photos on display at the press conference -- were fat and happy, wrestling on solid ice floes and devouring the flesh of prey. But environmentalists fear that Interior's decision not to give the bears the stronger 'endangered' design ...
Topics: climate, Department of Interior, Muckraker, news, polar bears, politics (all these topics)

Threat Laid Bear Polar bears threatened, but drilling in their habitat still OK, says Interior		14 May 2008	News
Posted at 11:47 AM on 14 May 2008 Polar bears are a threatened species, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced Wednesday -- but that doesn't mean we can't drill in their habitat! The "threatened" designation means the bear could become endangered if conservation steps aren't taken; it puts polar bears on the endangered-species list but in effect allows Interior to pick and choose which ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, Department of Interior, endangered species, news, polar bears, politics, progress (all these topics)

'Bout the Bullet DOI takes public comment on allowing loaded guns in national parks		01 May 2008	News
Posted at 2:50 PM on 01 May 2008 The Interior Department has officially proposed allowing concealed firearms into some national parks and wildlife refuges. State laws against carrying loaded guns into parks would supersede the new rule: thus, for example, visitors to Death Valley National Park could tote a gun in the Nevada portion of the park, but not on the California side. As expected, opinions vary on the ma ...
Topics: Department of Interior, legislation, national parks, news, politics (all these topics)

May of Reckoning Polar-bear listing decision must be made by May 15, says judge		29 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 9:55 AM on 29 Apr 2008 The last time we checked in with the laggardly Interior Department, it was saying it needed until June 30 to decide whether to place polar bears on the endangered-species list. But the department had better find its Decider Pants soon, as a federal judge has sided with green groups to impose a new deadline of May 15. "Other than the general complexity of finalizing the rule, def ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, Department of Interior, endangered species, litigation, news, polar bears, politics, wildlife (all these topics)

White and NRDC Inquiry made into delayed polar bear decision, green groups sue		10 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 10:02 AM on 10 Mar 2008 Let's check in on the latest polar bear shenanigans, shall we? Two months after deadline, the Interior Department still has made no decision on whether Ursus maritimus should be listed as a threatened species. Spurred by a critical letter from environmental groups, the agency's inspector general has begun preliminary inquiries into why the decision is taking so long. Greenpeace, the C ...
Topics: Department of Interior, endangered species, Greenpeace, litigation, news, NRDC, politics, wildlife (all these topics)

Well, Shoot Ban on loaded firearms in national parks may be lifted		26 Feb 2008	News
Posted at 2:14 PM on 26 Feb 2008 Photo: iStockphoto The Interior Department plans to revise regulations banning loaded guns in national parks, and park rangers and green groups are up in arms (figuratively, of course). Current rules, which require guns to be disarmed and stowed away within park boundaries, "are not unduly burdensome, but are limited, reasonable, and necessary," says the president of the National Parks ...
Topics: Department of Interior, legislation, national parks, news, politics (all these topics)

Bear With Us Green groups sue over delay in polar-bear endangered-species decision		01 Feb 2008	News
Posted at 9:13 AM on 01 Feb 2008 Environmental and native groups have sued -- as they are wont to do -- in an attempt to force the Interior Department to rethink its decision to sell oil and gas leases in Alaska's Chukchi Sea, which is prime polar bear habitat. The lease sale by the department's Minerals Management Service is scheduled to go ahead next week; meanwhile, another agency in the department, the Fish a ...
Topics: Alaska, Department of Interior, endangered species, energy, litigation, news, oil and gas drilling, politics, US Fish and Wildlife Service, wildlife (all these topics)

Give a Hoot, Don't Uproot Interior Department urged to redo recovery plan for spotted owl		03 Oct 2007	News
Posted at 3:15 PM on 03 Oct 2007 Was the Interior Department's recovery plan for the northern spotted owl watered down because of political pressure to favor logging interests? Six peer reviews of the plan (five of them funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) suggest yes. So do 113 scientists who sent a letter yesterday asking the Interior Department to rewrite its draft plan, which favored shooting ...
Topics: Department of Interior, endangered species, habitat loss, news, politics, wildlife (all these topics)

The War on Error Inspector general's report finds problems with royalty-collection program at Interior		26 Sep 2007	News
Posted at 6:57 AM on 26 Sep 2007 A new report by the U.S. Interior Department's inspector general points to a "profound failure" of the technology that the Minerals Management Service uses to monitor the roughly $10 billion in oil and gas royalty payments from energy companies each year. But it's not just the technology. Higher-ups in the agency apparently decided that even after cat ...
Topics: business, Department of Interior, news, oil, politics (all these topics)

Cali water madness Interior Dept. plans huge water giveaway to Big Agribiz	David Roberts	29 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Brad Plumer points to this, which tells the story of how the Interior Department is planning to give away gargantuan amounts of water to Big Agribiz in California. If you'd like to dig into the background details, check out some posts we ran by Lloyd G. Carter, president of California's Save Our Streams council -- here, here, and here. It's mind-boggling.
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, California, Department of Interior, politics (all these topics)

Teddy Would Be Proud Conservation organization sues feds over energy development		22 Aug 2007	Daily Grist
Teddy Would Be Proud Conservation organization sues feds over energy development The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has sued the U.S. Department of the Interior over the authorization of thousands of new oil and gas wells, roads, and miles of pipeline in a wildlife-rich area of Wyoming. News that an organization has sued the ...
Topics: Bureau of Land Management, Department of Interior, energy, news, oil and gas drilling, politics, wildlife, Wyoming (all these topics)

Teddy would be proud Conservation organization sues feds over energy development	Grist	21 Aug 2007	Gristmill
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has sued the Department of the Interior over the authorization of thousands of new oil and gas wells, roads, and miles of pipeline in a wildlife-rich area of Wyoming. News that an organization has sued the federal government over environmental travesties is, well, not really news -- unless it's TRCP, a non-litigious group with a largely Republican membership. The move is indicative that even the Bushies' natural allies are fed up ...
Topics: Bureau of Land Management, Department of Interior, energy, news, oil and gas drilling, politics, wildlife, Wyoming (all these topics)

Friday Never Felt So Right Interior officials messed with science, say witnesses at House hearing		11 May 2007	Daily Grist
Friday Never Felt So Right Interior officials messed with science, say witnesses at House hearing Think you've had a rough week? Imagine how the U.S. Interior Department feels. This week saw a heated House hearing in which activists and former officials testified about Interior's nasty habit of meddling with science. "This is an agency that seems focused on one goal: weakening ...
Topics: Department of Interior, endangered species, news, politics, shenanigans (all these topics)

Never underestimate the power of sleeping around Between the sheets in the Abramoff scandel	Kate Sheppard	04 Apr 2007	Gristmill
Italia Federici, the founder of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), is the latest target of investigation in the ongoing saga of Jack Abramoff (whose first name might as well be Disgraced Lobbyist), according to recent press reports. Federici, who at the time was dating the coal lobbyist turned Interior Department official J. Steven Griles, served as Abramoff's 'in' at the Interior Department, according to the Justice Department. According ...
Topics: Department of Interior, Department of Justice, lobbying, lying liars, politics (all these topics)

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