Department of the Interior

We evaluated the National Park Service’s (NPS’) general agreements (GAs) to determine if the NPS oversees its GAs to ensure compliance with policies and governing laws.We found that the NPS did not oversee its GAs to ensure compliance with policies and governing laws. The NPS did not maintain a...

We reviewed the seven recommendations from our 2016 evaluation report titled Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Southern Ute Agency’s Management of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s Energy Resources to verify whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Southern Ute Agency implemented them.We confirmed that the...

We audited the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to determine whether it ensured that donations and revenues collected by friends organizations were accounted for and spent in accordance with governing laws.We found that the FWS did not ensure its friends organizations fully accounted for and...

We investigated allegations that U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) volunteers at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge allowed guests to utilize Government housing, against FWS policy. We also investigated the circumstances surrounding the termination of two other volunteers from the refuge.We determined...

During a recent OIG investigation, we found that the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) has an internal policy that permits authorized senior staff to obtain access to employee emails to ensure “efficient and proper operation of the workplace,” or to search for “suspected misconduct.” We found...

We investigated an allegation that a National Park Service (NPS) employee assisted inmates from a prison work detail to smuggle contraband into a Federal penitentiary.We determined that during the prison work detail at a national park, inmates—whose criminal histories included firearms- and drug...

The OIG investigated allegations that Bronco Utah Operations, LLC (Bronco), a coal mining company based in Utah, improperly removed Federal coal without a lease.We determined that Bronco trespassed into unleased Federal coal deposits that resulted in a loss of public revenues. The Bureau of Land...

We investigated allegations that an oil and gas company unlawfully removed oil from a Federal mineral lease, transported the Federal oil to a Wyoming State lease, and concealed both the production and the transfer of the oil from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).We determined that the alleged...