THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 18, 2009, 9:08 AM ET
By Ashby Jones
Gale Norton, a secretary of the interior in the Bush Administration, now works as an in-house lawyer in Denver for Royal Dutch Shell. In 2006, while she was still in office, her department granted three tracts in Colorado to a Shell subsidiary for shale exploration. Also while in office, she reportedly had conversations with the oil company about future employment.
Was her discussing potential job opportunities at the time illegal? The Justice Department is investigating. Click here for the NYT article, here for the WSJ story, here for the LA Times piece that broke the story.
DOJ sources told the WSJ that the investigation is still in its early stages.
A Shell spokeswoman said the company has been notified of an investigation by the government, but declined to comment further. The spokeswoman told the WSJ said Norton wasnt available for comment.
During Nortons tenure at Interior, she came under criticism from the agencys inspector general, Earl Devaney, for tolerating what he characterized as a pattern of ethical lapses involving agency officials, including her deputy, Steven Griles. Griles pleaded guilty in 2007 to lying before a Senate committee about his ties to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist who is now in prison.
The departments dealings with energy companies that lease government-managed land have been frequently faulted. Last fall, an investigation by Devaneys unit found that employees at an Interior Department office responsible for collecting royalties from oil and gas companies broke government rules by accepting gifts from and having sex with industry representatives.
Earlier this week, the Obama administration announced the termination of a programadministered by the same officethat allows companies to give the government in-kind payments for oil and natural gas taken from federal land and waters, rather than paying cash royalties. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the program would be replaced by a more transparent and accountable payment system.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
