Congratulations are in order for the State of California which won a smack down summary judgment last night in a lawsuit to hold the Department of Interior (DOI) accountable for allowing major oil companies to cash in on the nation’s natural resources. In one of many examples of how she abused her authority to aid industry, former DOI Minerals Management Service Director Johnnie Burton issued a memo in 2002 which instructed the agency to drop efforts to collect royalties which were ripped off from government. In a notably lucrative favor to oil companies as well as mining companies, the memo went beyond the statute of limitations set by Congress and extended the write offs to royalty collections on minerals as well, even though Congress had not included. When the State of California moved to collect $44,000 in oil royalty underpayments from Area Energy LLC, the company appealed the collection to Johnnie Burton who supported the company’s efforts to fight the collections. The court overruled her decision and now Area will pay up its royalties.
No one knows how many hundreds of millions Johnnie Burton and her cohorts allowed oil, gas, and mining companies to pocket on her watch. It will take years of litigation, investigations and oversight to unravel the mess.
Another rumor on the grapevine is that Lucy Dennett, Associate Director of Minerals Revenue Management (MRM), may be leaving. Numerous investigations into misconduct and criminal activity are pending against the agency. Perhaps in a sign of what's to come, her "Associate Director's page on the MRM's website is blank today.
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