Oil and Gas Management: Federal Oil and Gas Management and Revenue Collection in Need of Stronger Oversight and Comprehensive Reassessement

This Government Accountability Office (GAO-09-556T) testimony before the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives by Frank Rusco, Director Natural Resources and Environment focuses on findings from a number of recent GAO reports on federal
oil and gas management. GAO has made numerous recommendations to Interior, which the agency generally agreed with and is taking steps to address. However, two important issues remain unresolved. Specifically, GAO made one recommendation and one matter for Congressional consideration that together call for a comprehensive reevaluation
of how Interior manages federal oil and gas resources. Interior has not undertaken such a comprehensive review and until this is done, the public cannot have reasonable assurance that federal oil and gas resources are being appropriately managed for the public good.