While US government oversight of oil and natural gas production on federal land is improving, the agencies still don't have enough qualified employees to ensure producers are following federal rules, the Government Accountability Office told a US House of Representatives' committee Tuesday.
The Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Energy Management and Bureau of Land Management are making strides toward correcting widespread mismanagement of oil and natural gas programs, but have been hindered by a lack of qualified staff and outdated computer systems, GAO told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.
Frank Rusco, director of GAO's Natural Resources and Environment team, said that while the elimination of the Minerals Management Service and creation of BOEM last year were positive steps, the new agency faces a persistent problem in hiring qualified employees because private companies can easily offer better compensation than can government.
"When the economy picks up and those skills are highly valued, they lose those people to industry," Rusco said.
Rusco did credit BOEM's managers with being more receptive to recommendations. "In recent years we've seen kind of a sea change in how our reports on oil and gas have been received and the ability and willingness of the agency to undertake our recommendations," Rusco said.
Government technology and accounting systems also have lagged behind private industry, he told the panel. While energy companies have computer programs that show minute-by-minute production levels, government agencies are using a collection of outdated systems that range from Excel spreadsheets to pen and paper calculations.
A failure to track production on federal lands is unacceptable, Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, said. "I find it almost stunning that we can't determine whether we're getting accurate amounts of revenue due the federal government from the amount of oil and gas(being produced)," he said.
Given those challenges, it makes little sense to make large cuts to oil and gas oversight agencies, said Minnesota Democratic Representative Betty McCollum.
"We know this department generates more revenue, largely from oil gas and coal, than it spends," McCollum said. "You can't balance the federal budget on the back of this department."
