Ex-BP official received payouts, perks -- Now works for Department of Energy

Is the real reason Koonin is not helping with the Gulf Oil Spill by BP after the explosion, because he is working on Obama's Cap and Trade? This just proves that Obama has a very cozy relationship with BP who he used to write Cap and Trade. Is Koonin the person who wrote Cap and Trade?

This is one time we don't see anything unethical about Koonin working on the Gulf Oil Spill if he can help but now this Administration is worried about ethics? Give us a break as they haven't worried about ethics in the past and we don't expect them to in the future.

Ex-BP official received payouts, perks
At Energy, Koonin is barred from spill role
By Jim McElhatton
8:06 p.m., Sunday, June 27, 2010

OUT OF THE LOOP: Steven E. Koonin, an undersecretary at the Department of Energy, cannot have anything to do with the BP remediation. (U.S. Department of Energy)

Steven E. Koonin, undersecretary for science at the Department of Energy, reported receiving a host of lucrative corporate payouts and perks when he left his job as chief scientist at oil giant BP last year to join the Obama administration.

But because of Mr. Koonin's extensive ties to BP, he can't have anything to do with the most pressing issue now facing the Energy Department: how to stop up to 2.5 million gallons of oil a day from gushing into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Koonin took home $1.8 million in BP compensation and bonus money during 2008 and the first three months of 2009. That doesn't include an additional $244,600 in BP bonuses he listed as a "receivable," as well as additional BP stock assets worth more than $1 million, U.S. Office of Government Ethics filings show.

What's more, BP is continuing to pay to prepare Mr. Koonin's tax returns through 2011, and it paid for temporary housing, a per-diem and a rental car when he returned to the United States before he took the DOE job, according to the records.

A copy of Mr. Koonin's financial disclosure was obtained by The Washington Times.
The government filings give additional insight into compensation practices at the oil company, which are coming under sharp scrutiny in Congress following the oil spill. Unlike a handful of other top executives, Mr. Koonin's pay package and corporate perks were not required to be disclosed in regulatory filings and only became a matter of public record because he joined the federal government.

When Mr. Obama nominated Mr. Koonin to the energy post last year, the White House highlighted Mr. Koonin's work for BP "guiding the company's long-range technology strategy, particularly in alternative and renewable energy sources." And his official Department of Energy biography notes that, among other duties, Mr. Koonin provided "technical advice to senior executives" while at BP.

Energy officials say Mr. Koonin's recusal from taking part in the department's oil-spill efforts hasn't affected their response: "The department has had a team of more than 200 scientists, engineers and other experts from our national labs working to assist the efforts to stop the oil spill," Energy Department spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller said.

"The secretary [Steven Chu] has high regard for the undersecretarys scientific expertise, but has had no shortage of expert input over the past several weeks. He fully supports the government ethics rules and expects every department employee to abide by them," she added.

Lawrence M. Cathles III, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University, who has served on several committees of the National Research Council, said he wasn't sure Mr. Koonin should be barred from working on the oil-spill crisis.

Read More at: Washington Times