Posted on Mon, Nov. 9, 2009
Paul L. Bloom, 70, an Energy Department lawyer who led a Carter administration effort that recovered billions of dollars from major oil companies that had overcharged their customers, died Oct. 9 of pancreatic cancer. He lived in Chevy Chase, Md.
After working as a natural-resources lawyer in New Mexico, Mr. Bloom was named a special counsel for compliance at the newly created Department of Energy in late 1977. His task was to go after Big Oil to seek restitution for violations of federal regulatory laws.
Described in a 1980 National Journal article as "an ambling and amiable man with an impish sense of humor," Mr. Bloom liked to pass himself off as a country lawyer unaccustomed to the ways of Washington. But his staff of 450 lawyers and accountants quickly set out to examine the records of the nation's 34 largest oil companies.
"We have 65 people at the Exxon site every day," Mr. Bloom said in 1978, "and they are poring over microfilm machines, practically going blind."
Mr. Bloom concluded that after new regulations had gone into effect in the 1970s, the petroleum firms had defrauded their customers and the public of about $11 billion. Under the threat of criminal prosecution, he negotiated settlements with the companies, which ultimately paid back about $6 billion over the next decade. - Washington Post
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