DOI: Griles gabbed about golf not business

FROM THE ARCHIVE

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FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2003

When Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles held a conference call with his former lobbying partner and industry representatives, it was about golf, not business.

When he wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency to protest the agency's critical review of a drilling study, it was to inspire cooperation, not to help out former clients wanting to tap massive oil and gas resources in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming.

These are some of the explanations given by the Department of Interior and Griles himself to explain his activities as Gale Norton's right-hand man. Griles says he has not violated an ethical agreement not to make decisions affecting former clients.

But The Denver Post documents numerous instances where he met and participated in calls, meetings or discussions regarding former clients. In September 2001, for example, he took part in two meetings that led to Chevron, a client of his old lobbying firm, to pay $46 million to resolve an offshore oil and gas dispute with the federal government.

Griles was paid $585,000 a year to work for National Environmental Strategies (NES), The Post reports. The company is still paying him $1.1 million, on top of his government salary.

Get the Story:
Interior's No. 2 dogged by ethics issues (The Denver Post 6/6)

Relevant Links:
Interior Department Watchdog, Friends of the Earth - http://www.foe.org/camps/eco/interior/index.html