Interior IG finds senior BLM official violated ethics rules
- August 23, 2022
Scott Streater, E&E News
The Interior Department’s inspector general has concluded that a senior Bureau of Land Management official violated agency ethics rules last year when she met with a previous employer on potential changes to the agency’s regulation of oil and gas development and climate change.
But the IG’s report, published online last week, concluded that the “BLM Official” did so unintentionally, and that their actions did not affect bureau policy decisions.
The IG’s report doesn’t name the senior BLM official. But it is based on an investigation the IG conducted in response to a complaint filed last year by Protect the Public’s Trust that raised ethics questions involving Nada Culver, BLM’s deputy director of policy and programs (Greenwire, Sept. 2, 2021).
Protect the Public’s Trust issued a press release today on the IG’s investigation, naming Culver and a June 1, 2021, meeting Culver had with one of her previous employers, the Wilderness Society, to discuss possible revisions to BLM’s oil and gas leasing policies and regulations.