Interior Has Not Solved Indian Oil and Gas Royalty Payment Problems
IMTEC-86-13
Published: Mar 31, 1986. Publicly Released: Apr 22, 1986.
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Highlights
In response to a congressional request, GAO examined the Department of the Interior's initiatives to ensure the timely and accurate collection and distribution of Indian oil and gas royalties, specifically Interior's efforts to: (1) provide useful royalty payment explanations to individual Indians; (2) resolve royalty overpayments; and (3) ensure that Indian leases are included in its exception processing system. GAO also evaluated the possibility of using the Mineral Management Service's (MMS) new computer to help solve royalty payment problems.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | To ensure that Interior complies with section 105 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to promptly implement the Royalty Distribution and Reporting System throughout BIA. |
Closed – Implemented
BIA stated that it completed implementation of the system in all Indian areas.
|
| Department of the Interior | To ensure that Interior complies with section 105 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to change the BIA Royalty Distribution and Reporting System to provide royalty rates on the statements generated by the system. |
Closed – Implemented
According to BIA, all statements now contain calculated royalty rates.
|
| Department of the Interior | To ensure that Interior complies with section 105 of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to redesign the royalty payment statement provided to allottees to make it easier for them to understand and use. |
Closed – Implemented
BIA will use a contractor for this redesign and has submitted a contract statement of work to the General Services Administration for review.
|
| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should require the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to promptly resolve, by collection, offset, or write-off, the $450,000 in overpayments resulting from not properly accounting for negative royalties in the Anadarko area. |
Closed – Implemented
BIA is developing a request for proposal to accomplish this task using a contractor.
|
| Department of the Interior | After the Auditing and Financial System becomes operational on the new MMS computer, the Secretary of the Interior should require the Director, MMS, to assess the feasibility of expanding the MMS exception processing system to include other exception types, as well as those currently being performed. |
Closed – Implemented
BIA agreed with this recommendation and plans to take appropriate action.
|
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Topics
Accounting proceduresGas leasesIndian affairs legislationIndian landsMineral bearing landsMineral rightsNative American rightsOil leasesOverpaymentsRoyalty payments