The Immaculate Scandal: Big Cypress Oil Scammers Go Scot-free

After Three Years, Interior Inspector General Finds No One Responsible

WASHINGTON, DC — The official investigation into an attempted $120 million taxpayer rip-off failed to find anyone responsible, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The official report recently issued by the U.S. Department of Interior Office of the Inspector General blamed the oil buyout scandal on “the cultural mindset with DOI [Department of Interior] and politics” but tacitly absolved all of the top officials who commissioned and approved the arrangement.

Under the deal, the Interior Department offered the Collier family, prominent supporters of both Bush brothers, more than twelve times the assessed value of its oil and gas holdings in the Big Cypress National Preserve, adjacent to the Florida Everglades. This hugely inflated buyout was announced in a May 2002 White House ceremony intended to burnish the environmental credentials of both Bushes.