Department of the Interior

We investigated whether the boundaries of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) were modified, at least in part, for the personal financial benefit of former Utah State Representative Michael Noel, who owned property along the GSENM border and who is currently the executive...

We completed an inspection of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) small miner (those with 10 or fewer claims) mining claims. We focused on whether the BLM monitors these claims to ensure that they are legitimate, that maintenance fees are paid, and, if these fees are waived, that the required...

The OIG investigated allegations that Prime 8, LLC, a company that conducted oil and gas operations and inspections in the Gulf of Mexico, violated departmental regulations and created records to support fictitious inspections of offshore platforms regulated by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental...

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) requested that we audit costs claimed on the Crow Tribe’s Methamphetamine Initiative Program, under Agreement No. A12AV01171. We could not perform the audit because the Tribe did not provide the necessary documentation for its claim, such as contractor invoices...

We audited the costs claimed by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. The audit included claims totaling approximately $66.9 million on 47 grants that were open...

We audited the costs claimed by the State of Tennessee, Wildlife Resources Agency, under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. The audit included claims totaling approximately $95.4 million on 35 grants that were open...

The OIG investigated allegations of misconduct and mismanagement at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), a community college in Albuquerque, NM, operated and overseen by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). The complainant alleged that a SIPI manager engaged in sexual misconduct and...

The OIG investigated an allegation that altered records were submitted to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR). The records were submitted to ONRR by a third-party consultant on behalf of their client, a company operating Federal mineral leases, during an audit of royalty refund requests...

The October 2018 Semiannual Report to Congress summarizes the Office of Inspector General’s successful work completed from April 1, 2018, through September 30, 2018, to promote excellence, integrity, and accountability within the programs, operations, and management of the U.S. Department of the...

This report details KPMG’s findings of its audit of financial statements from the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) for fiscal years 2018 and 2017. The OST financial reports contain financial statements and notes for Tribal and Other Trust Funds (Tribal) and Individual Indian...