After Norton's resignation,

she joined Royal Dutch Shell

Oil company as a legal adviser

in their oil-shale division,

drawing further criticism

from environmentalists due

to her prior support for oil

drilling and use of U.S. national

forests.

[1] On September 17, 2009 the

United States Department of

Justice made it known that

they were investigating

whether Norton used her

government position to

illegally benefit Royal Dutch

Shell.

[2] MMS Royalty-in-kind

under Norton's replacement

Dick Kempthorn: The

royalty-in-kind division,

which in 2007 handled $4.3

billion in payments from

energy companies drilling

on federal lands, is in charge

of the program whereby

energy companies give the

government oil in lieu of

cash, which the MMS office

then sells on the open market

(H. Josef Hebert, AP).

But some of the staff of the

royalty-in-kind division are

alleged to have taken their

division's title much too

literally, with accusations

of sex between staff members

within the division and with

reps of the oil and gas

companies, drug use of staff

and with members of the

energy company reps, and

reception of gifts such as

ski trips, along with alcohol

use and abuse.

The allegations come after

a two year, $5.3 million

investigation by the Interior

Department's Inspector

General Earl E. Devaney.

The investigation alleges

that as many as 19 staff

members-a third of the

royalty-in-kind division's

staff-were involved from

2002-2006 in receiving

gifts and gratuities from

oil and gas company reps

(Hebert).  In December

2007, as a result of a

long-term investigation

and resignation of former

Deputy Assistant Secretary

Julie MacDonald, Inspector

General Earl Devaney

found "abrupt and abrasive,

if not abusive" management

[8] at the department under

Kempthorne's supervision.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden,

chairman of the Senate

Subcommittee on Public

Lands and Forests, attributed

the "untold waste of hundreds

of thousands of taxpayers'

dollars" to MacDonald's actions.

[9] Of the department,

Representative Nick J. Rahall

II, chairman of the House

Natural Resources said

"The results of this investigation

paint a picture of something akin

to a secret society residing within

the Interior Department that was

colluding to undermine the

protection of endangered wildlife

and covering for one anothers

misdeeds.[10] On December

16, 2008, the Center for

Biological Diversity announced

intent to sue the Interior

Department under Kempthorne

for introducing "regulations...

that would eviscerate our nations

most successful wildlife law by

exempting thousands of federal

activities, including those that

generate greenhouse gases,

from review under the Endangered

Species Act." The lawsuit, which is

critical of policy advocated by

Kempthorne and President

George W. Bush, was filed in the

Northern District of California

by the CBD, Greenpeace and

Defenders of Wildlife. According

to the CBD, "The lawsuit argues

that the regulations violate the

Endangered Species Act and

did not go through the required

public review process. The

regulations, first proposed on

August 11th, were rushed by

the Bush administration through

an abbreviated process in which

more than 300,000 comments

from the public were reviewed

in 2-3 weeks, and environmental

impacts were analyzed in a

short and cursory environmental

assessment, rather than a fuller

environmental impact statement."[12]