http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/11/usa.oil
Government officials in charge of collecting royalties from oil companies accepted ski holidays and other gifts from the firms they were meant to be regulating, as well as using cocaine and having sex with industry executives, according to an official report released yesterday.
The inspector general's investigation found a "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" operating at the mineral management service (MMS), the government agency charged with regulating oil companies.
The investigation focused on the royalties-in-kind programme which allows oil companies to pay royalties to the federal government in oil and gas rather than cash. It is one of the government's biggest sources of revenue outside of taxes, bringing in $10bn (£5.7bn) a year.