“Drill, baby, drill,” the oft-heard chant of the Republican faithful during the party’s national convention, may become the GOP’s most unfortunate slogan ever as the federal bureau charged with managing and leasing offshore gas and oil reserves is embroiled in a scandal that literally finds them in bed with the oil industry.A recently released report concluded a two-year $5.3 million investigation of the Royalty-in-Kind (RIK) program at the Minerals Management Service (MMS), a bureau in the Department of the Interior that manages natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf and collects, accounts for and disburses more than $8 billion per year in revenues from existing offshore mineral leases. The RIK group accepts royalty payments on leases in the form of crude oil and then resells the oil on the open market, accounting for approximately $4 billion per year in revenues.

According to the report from the Department of Interior inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, 19 members of the RIK staff accepted illegal gifts from 2002 to 2006 and several were found to have manipulated the contract process. The report indicated that oil companies Chevron, Shell, Gary Williams Energy Corporation and Hess Corporation provided the gifts to RIK employees.

RIK was not limited to ethical corruption either. Employees engaged in sexual encounters with “prohibited sources.” A few members of the RIK staff were referred to as the “MMS Chicks” by oil industry representatives and lascivious emails often preceded industry functions. Rampant cocaine, marijuana and alcohol abuse was also reported.

“The single-most serious problem our investigations revealed is a pervasive culture of exclusivity, exempt from the rules that govern all other employees of the Federal Government,” Devaney reported.

The timing of the report comes at a particularly difficult time for Republican lawmakers currently pushing new energy legislation that loosens regulations on drilling on the outer continental shelf.