Teapot Dome scandal Teapot Dome scandal The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 19211923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming, and two locations in California, to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. The leases were the subject of a sensational investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison; no one was convicted of paying the bribes. Before the Watergate scandal,
Oil reserves in the United States Prudhoe Bay field was found in Alaska. United States crude oil production declined since reaching a smaller secondary production peak in 1988 (caused by Alaskan production), but increased again from 2009 to 2015. Total production of crude oil from 1970 through 2006 was , or roughly five and a half times the decline in proved reserves. Since the oil price peaked about US$147.50 in summer 2008 many projects have been brought online, and domestic production increased from 2009 to 2015. It takes a few years to develop an oil field. In 2012 the oil production of the USA increased by