Watching Government: Lithi takes NOIA's helm

When I asked Randall B. Luthi how he felt going to work for an organization whose members he used to regulate, he replied: "The players have changed. The situation hasn't. Energy is still needed."

Luthi, who served as director of the US Minerals Management Service from July 2007 through January 2009, succeeded Tom Fry as president of the National Ocean Industries Association effective Mar. 1. Luthi returned to Washington a few weeks earlier to find an apartment, get the door keys—and then wait several days for his furniture to arrive after two major snowstorms severely disrupted the National Capital Area.

"We're used to snow in Wyoming," he said Mar. 10 when I spoke with him at NOIA headquarters. "These would have been heavy storms anywhere."

Luthi faced a different—but equally severe—storm while he ran MMS. In early September 2008, US Department of the Interior Inspector General Earl E. Devaney reported to Secretary Dirk A. Kempthorne, following a 2-year investigation, that employees of MMS's Royalty-in-Kind office in Denver were paid for outside work, abused drugs and alcohol, and solicited sex in "a pervasive culture of exclusivity, exempt from the rules that govern all other employees of the federal government."

Swift action

Kempthorne expressed outrage at the employees' behavior, confirmed that several were transferred out of the RIK program as he awaited Devaney's final reports, and promised swift action now that he had those reports and information to proceed.

"We moved decisively," Luthi says now. "I'm not aware of any criticism that we could have done more once we learned what was going on." He's still unhappy that a small group of employees' outrageous behavior tarnished the reputation of a department where 99.5% of the workforce works honestly and diligently.

When Kempthorne "jump-started" preparation of a new OCS 5-year program by 2 years after oil prices broke records in Summer 2008, Luthi worked with several NOIA members and others on MMS's OCS Policy Committee to get a draft proposed plan ready by early January 2009.

Identified areas

Kempthorne's successor, Ken Salazar, subsequently delayed the program by broadening its scope to include wind and other renewable sources. Luthi finds this gratifying since the plan he helped develop late in the Bush administration initially identified areas where energy from wind, waves, and ocean current might be produced.

He noted that the US Energy Information Administration's latest forecasts say fossil fuels will still supply 70% of total US energy through 2035. "Energy is energy in my mind," he said. "Oil and gas play a part. So do wind, wave, and current.

"I think we're now at a point where NOIA and its members can come in with their expertise and provide some guidance," Luthi said. "The Gulf of Mexico is a known quantity now. We have several deepwater experts. As this nation moves ahead, NOIA will be right there."

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