The Washington Post was reporting on February 15, 2007, that former Justice Department official Sue Ellen Wooldridge (see January 10, 2007, post), ConocoPhillips lobbyist Don Duncan and former Interior Department Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles bought a home on Kiawah Island, S.C., for $980,000.00 in March 2006. Now, Ms. Wooldridge, the former assistant
attorney general who oversaw the Justice Department’s environmental and natural resources division, is under investigation by the DOJ for that purchase. The purchase came shortly before Wooldridge executed consent decrees that gave the oil company more time to pay millions of dollars in fines.
Wooldridge resigned from her post in January 2007 after news broke that Griles (whom Wooldridge was dating) was under investigation for his involvement with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In November 2006, ConocoPhillips agreed proposed consent decrees with the federal government and four states to modify an agreement the company had reached with the USEPA in 2005 to settle charges it was violating the Clean Air Act. The proposed changes would allow ConocoPhillips more time to install equipment and processes that would cost an estimated $525 million to cut emissions at some refineries. According to the Washington Post article, a DOJ spokeswoman said that Wooldridge received approval from a career ethics official in her office before buying the vacation property.
Makes you go “hmmmm.”
More later.
As always, feel free to call me or e-mail me with any questions at walter.james@jamespllc.com.
WDJiii
Comments