Rhetoric VS. Reality
Policy-makers are talking a lot about energy and energy policy. What fallows are some of the most frequently heard claims and proposals, along with realities that need to be considered when evaluating these claims.
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Former drilling regulator defends record
July 8, 2010
Billings Gazette
DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Casper Star-Tribune
CASPER — Former Minerals Management Service director Johnnie Burton says the spewing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is a disaster that merits a worldwide effort to plug.
As for her oversight of the agency from 2002 to 2007, Burton said she knew of no indications that the offshore oil and gas industry in the Gulf was prone to such an accident.
“I have been gone from the Minerals Management Service for three years, and I may not remember a lot of details. But I remember enough to tell you, for the five years I was there, we never relaxed any rules — never changed any rules to make them any less safe,” Burton said.
In an exclusive interview with the Star-Tribune, Burton defended her leadership of the federal agency, which was recently renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOE.
During Burton’s tenure at the agency, it was embroiled in controversy over the “royalty-in-kind” program and ethical lapses in which a handful of MMS employees accepted gifts from, and were literally in bed with, managers in the industry it was supposed to regulate, according to government reports.
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