House Democrats on Wednesday called for an ethics investigation into the acting head of a federal agency that helps manage offshore waters, citing his interactions with former clients.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, and four other Democrats penned a letter asking the Interior Department’s inspector general to probe Matthew Giacona, the acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Before joining the Trump administration this year, Giacona was vice president of government affairs at the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), which represents oil majors, offshore wind developers and other companies who do business in federal waters.
Federal ethics rules prohibit public servants from giving preferential treatment to private entities. Huffman and other Democrats said Giacona “appears to have” violated those rules by communicating with industry “on the same subject-matter areas on which he lobbied while at NOIA.”
