100
ALRAQABA . ISSUE 15
offices for revenue collection, under the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, and energy
development and regulatory oversight, under the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation
and Enforcement. Interior completed restructuring its oil and gas program in 2011, transferring
offshore oversight responsibilities to two new bureaus—the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
(BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)—and assigning the
revenue collection function to a new Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR). Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) did not restructure its management of onshore federal oil and gas activities.
In February 2011, in part because of these challenges and the large number of recommendations
that remained unimplemented, GAO added Interior’s management of federal oil and gas resources
to its list of programs at high risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.
GAO’s High Risk List
Every 2 years, the GAO examines federal programs and operations that are especially vulnerable
to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement or that need transformative change to achieve
efficiency and effectiveness. This examination forms the basis of GAO’s High Risk List. The high
risk program—initiated in January 1990 with the first report issued in 1993—was developed with a
main goal of bringing additional focus to long-standing major problem areas, reviewing the status
of areas on the list, and outlining steps to lasting solutions. Areas listed are determined using the
published criteria on Determining Performance and Accountability Challenges and High Risks (GAO-
01-159SP).
Federal programs maybe added, removed, narrowed, or expanded on the list, depending on
the areas and whether they need substantial attention. Removing high risk designations means
seeing improvement in top leadership commitments, capacity (people and resources), action
planning, monitoring and validation procedures, and demonstrated progress that is meaningful
and sustainable.
Management of Federal oil and gas resources since the 2011 High Risk list
Although there have been some changes in areas of focus, the Department of Interior’s
management of oil and gas resources remains on the high risk list because Interior has not met the
criteria for removal from the high risk list. Specifically, GAO narrowed the high-risk area to Interior’s
revenue collection and human capital challenges in 2013, after the Interior had fundamentally
completed its reorganization. However, GAO continued to identify challenges in oversight and
production verification, so the issue remains on the high risk list. For example, a February 2016
report showed that Interior’s restructuring of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
(BSEE)—created to promote safety, protect the environment, and conserve offshore resources
through regulatory oversight and enforcement—had made limited progress addressing long-standing
deficiencies in the bureau’s investigative, environmental compliance, and enforcement capabilities.
More than 5 years after its creation, BSEE continued to use investigative policies and procedures
that predated the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Its outdated policies and procedures did not
Articles
