Recommendation: The U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System should complete a government-wide assessment of the economic, environmental, and safety risks posed by gaps in maritime infrastructure in the U.S. Arctic to inform investment priorities and decisions. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Committee on the Marine Transportation System
Status: Open

Comments: CMTS partially concurred with our recommendation but also noted several areas of disagreement with our conclusions, which we addressed directly in our report. For example, we note in our report that CMTS itself has previously noted the importance of evaluating risks on a government-wide basis, and that it previously proposed a model for determining risk that considered the likelihood of adverse events actually occurring, vulnerability to damage, and potential consequences. Given its previous work in the U.S. Arctic and its coordinating role with its member agencies, CMTS is well suited to conduct a government-wide assessment of the risks posed by gaps in maritime infrastructure in the U.S. Arctic. As such, we stand by our recommendation and will continue to report on steps taken by CMTS to address it.

Recommendation: The appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President, including the Office of Science and Technology Policy should develop and publish a strategy for addressing U.S. Arctic maritime infrastructure that identifies goals and objectives, performance measures to monitor agencies' progress over time, and the appropriate responses to address risks. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Executive Office of the President: Office of Science and Technology Policy
Status: Open

Comments: OSTP neither agreed nor disagreed with the report's recommendations. OSTP acknowledged the Arctic is of critical national importance and noted interagency coordination can be implemented through the entities of the National Science and Technology Council, which is located within OSTP. As we note in our report, without a strategy for addressing U.S. Arctic maritime infrastructure that identifies goals and objectives, performance measures to monitor agencies' progress over time, and the appropriate responses to address risks, agencies lack assurance that their actions are effectively targeting priority areas and decision makers cannot gauge the extent of progress in addressing maritime infrastructure gaps. As such, we stand by our recommendation and will continue to evaluate OSTP's efforts to fully address it.

Recommendation: The appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President, including the Office of Science and Technology Policy should designate the interagency group responsible for leading and coordinating federal efforts to address maritime infrastructure in the U.S. Arctic that includes all relevant stakeholders. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Executive Office of the President: Office of Science and Technology Policy
Status: Open

Comments: OSTP neither agreed nor disagreed with the report's recommendations. OSTP acknowledged the Arctic is of critical national importance and noted interagency coordination can be implemented through the entities of the National Science and Technology Council, which is located within OSTP. OSTP noted the need for, and role of additional federal coordination, such as the Arctic Executive Steering Committee, is under consideration by OSTP. We continue to believe that the appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President, including OSTP, should designate the interagency group responsible for leading and coordinating federal efforts to address maritime infrastructure in the U.S. Arctic that includes all relevant stakeholders. As we note in our report, without an interagency collaboration mechanism designated to lead these efforts, it is unclear who has responsibility for whole-of-government efforts to address U.S. Arctic maritime infrastructure. We will continue to monitor OSTP's efforts to fully address our recommendation.

Recommendation: The NMFS Assistant Administrator for Fisheries should work with the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico councils, and other councils as appropriate, to develop documented processes for conducting allocation reviews. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: National Marine Fisheries Service
Status: Open

Comments: Commerce and NOAA agreed with this recommendation and stated that NOAA's NMFS will work to implement it to the extent possible. We will continue to monitor NMFS' efforts to do so.

Recommendation: The NMFS Assistant Administrator for Fisheries should work with the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico councils, and other councils as appropriate, to specify how the councils will document their allocation reviews, including the basis for their allocation decisions, whether fishery management plan objectives are being met, and what factors were considered in the reviews. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Commerce: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: National Marine Fisheries Service
Status: Open

Comments: Commerce and NOAA agreed with this recommendation and stated that NOAA's NMFS will work to implement it to the extent possible. We will continue to monitor NMFS' efforts to do so.

Recommendation: The Secretary of the Army should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to develop an implementation plan that includes resource estimates to address the remaining WRRDA 2014 acceleration provisions. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Defense concurred with the recommendation. According to documentation provided by the agency, the Secretary of the Army will sign a memorandum by March 2020 directing the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to develop an implementation plan to address study acceleration. Upon receipt of that memorandum, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works will work with the Army Corps of Engineers to develop an implementation plan to address study acceleration. This implementation plan is expected to be signed by September 2020. We will continue to monitor the Corps' progress.

Recommendation: The Secretary of the Army should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to develop a plan to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of the agency's feasibility study acceleration reforms. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Defense concurred with the recommendation. According to documentation provided by the agency, the Secretary of the Army will sign a memorandum by March 2020 directing the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of the agency's feasibility study acceleration reforms. Upon receipt of that memorandum, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works will work with the Army Corps of Engineers to develop an implementation plan for this evaluation, which is expected to be signed by September 2020. We will continue to monitor the Corps' progress.

Recommendation: The Secretary of the Army should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to clarify its policy to help ensure district officials enter data on all key milestones for feasibility studies into its central data system. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Defense concurred with the recommendation. According to documentation provided by the agency, the Secretary of the Army will sign a memorandum by March 2020 directing the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to clarify the Army's policy on entry of key study data to include milestone dates. Upon receipt of that memorandum, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works will work with the Army Corps of Engineers to develop an implementation plan for this effort, which is expected to be signed by September 2020. We will continue to monitor the Corps' progress.

Recommendation: The Principal Deputy Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service should direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to develop plans and time frames for improving its new consultation tracking system and develop appropriate internal controls, such as electronic safeguards and other data-entry procedures, to ensure accurate data on the time taken for consultations. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of the Interior: United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Status: Open

Comments: The Fish and Wildlife Service concurred with this recommendation and said it would take steps to implement it. When we confirm what actions the Fish and Wildlife Service has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Director, working with the Study, should ensure that as the Study finalizes its reporting format, it fully incorporates leading practices of performance reporting. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, the Long Island Sound Study (Study) stated that it has incorporated two leading practices into the reporting format for its progress reports. In addition, the Study website shows the progress toward ecosystem targets compared to the recovery plan, and for a preceding period of time when data are available. According to the Study, EPA hired a contractor to develop a report addressing our recommendations. The Study is using the contractor report to finalize its reporting format and plans to develop an online reporting and tracking system that fully incorporates leading practices of performance reporting. We will review the format of the online tracking system when it becomes available and provide updated information as appropriate.

Recommendation: The Director, working with the Study, should develop cost estimates that include analyses of uncertainties for each of the targets in the 2015 plan. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, the Study reported that it had hired a contractor to develop a report including the range of costs, including uncertainty bounds, needed to attain each of the targets in the 2015 plan. The contractor has completed its study. Cost estimates for each ecosystem target were developed by adding up the existing cost ranges for each of the implementation actions in the 2015 plan. The report is posted and accessible to the public on the Long Island Sound Study website (https://longislandsoundstudy.net/2019/11/addressing-gaos-recommendations-liss-performance-reporting-and-cost-estimating/). The report contains recommendations for the Study to continue estimating costs in future reports. We are following up with EPA to determine whether the Study will do this.

Recommendation: The Director, working with the Study, should estimate the range of potential costs for all implementation actions and include the estimates in future supplements to the 2015 plan. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, the Study said that as part of the Plan 2020-2024 implementation action update, it will include a range of costs for implementation actions. We will review the supplemental documents when they are available and provide updated information as appropriate.

Recommendation: The FHWA Administrator should offer and provide guidance or technical assistance to NEPA assignment states on developing evaluation methodologies, including baseline time frames and timeliness measures. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Highway Administration
Status: Open

Comments: As of June 2020, FHWA has not agreed to offer and provide guidance or technical assistance on evaluation methodologies for NEPA assignment states. GAO continues to believe further evaluation guidance is needed, and will continue to monitor FHWA's actions.

Recommendation: The Director of the Bureau of Land Management should develop a policy to ensure that field offices consistently track exception data.

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2019, BLM issued a memo called "Documentation and Tracking Requirements for Waiver, Exceptions, and Modifications for Fluid Mineral Exploration and Development Activities." The memo states that BLM is updating its guidance for tracking waivers, exceptions, and modifications of fluid minerals stipulations and Conditions of Approval (COA) to ensure that these requests are consistently processed and documented until BLM completes database enhancements to its Automated Fluid Minerals Support System 2 to perform this function. To ensure consistent documentation, BLM has developed an "Exceptions Tracking Sheet" that BLM staff are to use when making decisions. Information captured on the tracking sheet include: field office, state, U.S. well number, exception decision date, COA or lease stipulation (LS) , category of COA or LS (e.g. air, community, wildlife), and the specific COA or LS involved. Additionally, the associated environmental analyses, documents, and authorized officer's decision must be consistent with guidance found in Chapter IV of BLM's Planning for Fluid Mineral Resources Handbook (H-1624-1). In August 2019, GAO requested additional information to support the implementation of the recommendation. In December 2019, Interior officials stated that it would implement the recommendation by August 2020.

Recommendation: The Director of the Bureau of Land Management should develop bureau-wide written procedures for consistently considering and clearly documenting the information and processes used to make exception decisions.

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2019, BLM issued a memo called "Documentation and Tracking Requirements for Waiver, Exceptions, and Modifications for Fluid Mineral Exploration and Development Activities." The memo states that BLM is updating its guidance for tracking waivers, exceptions, and modifications of fluid minerals stipulations and Conditions of Approval (COA) to ensure that these requests are consistently processed and documented until BLM completes database enhancements to its Automated Fluid Minerals Support System 2 to perform this function. To ensure consistent documentation, BLM has developed an "Exceptions Tracking Sheet" that BLM staff are to use when making decisions. Information captured on the tracking sheet include: field office, state, U.S. well number, exception decision date, COA or lease stipulation (LS) , category of COA or LS (e.g. air, community, wildlife), and the specific COA or LS involved. Additionally, the associated environmental analyses, documents, and authorized officer's decision must be consistent with guidance found in Chapter IV of BLM's Planning for Fluid Mineral Resources Handbook (H-1624-1). In August 2019, GAO requested additional information to support the implementation of the recommendation. In December 2019, Interior officials stated that it would implement the recommendation by August 2020.

Recommendation: The Director of the Bureau of Land Management should direct field offices to make the results of exception request decisions available to the public, such as on BLM's public website.

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: In July 2019, Interior officials stated that the BLM does not intend to make an exception tracking spreadsheet available to the public. According to Interior officials, the regulations at 43 CFR 3101.1-4 do not require it, and public posting is only applicable to waivers and modifications, not exceptions. Interior's position has been that the public can ask for this information in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Interior officials explained that the main concern in making an exception tracking spreadsheet available to the public is that a single consolidated tracking spreadsheet would require constant updates and posting to Interior's website. Since the numbers can change daily, any posted updates would only provide a brief snap shot which will not be meaningful. Interior officials stated that the BLM will aim to address this item in future database design enhancements in order to obtain a permanent tracking solution. We will update this recommendation when we have additional information from BLM.

Recommendation: The Director of the Bureau of Land Management should clarify guidance related to documentation of environmental inspections to ensure that inspections are documented in a manner that indicates whether all permit requirements were checked as part of the inspection.

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2016, Interior officials stated that three of six corrective actions are substantially complete and that efforts are ongoing to clarify guidance related to documentation of environmental inspections with a target date for implementation of December 31, 2018. In May 2020, Interior officials stated the revised target date for implementation is September 30, 2020, at which time BLM will issue updated policies and procedures.

Recommendation: The Director of the Bureau of Land Management should provide additional guidance to field offices on how to collect and use data collected during monitoring inspections and, in doing so, determine and implement an approach for using the data to assess the effectiveness of the agency's mitigation efforts, including its best management practices.

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2018, Interior officials stated that efforts to provide guidance to field offices on how to collect and use date are ongoing with correction actions 10 percent complete. In May 2020, officials stated that they have a target date for implementation of December 31, 2020.

Recommendation: To help achieve EQIP's purpose of optimizing environmental benefits, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to direct EQIP program managers to coordinate with the leaders of USDA's CEAP to help ensure that CEAP studies consider the practical limitations and trade-offs faced by program managers and to provide program managers with better information to target EQIP funds where they will optimize environmental benefits.

Agency: Department of Agriculture
Status: Open

Comments: As of May 2020, the agency has not taken action. When we obtain information from the agency, we will update the status of this recommendation.

Recommendation: To help achieve EQIP's purpose of optimizing environmental benefits, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to revise guidance on state offices' EQIP allocation processes, stipulating that data on environmental concerns, where available, should be a primary factor influencing allocations within states.

Agency: Department of Agriculture
Status: Open

Comments: As of May 2020, the agency has not taken action. When we obtain information from the agency, we will update the status of this recommendation.

Recommendation: To help achieve EQIP's purpose of optimizing environmental benefits, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to establish a review process at the regional level for review and concurrence of EQIP payment rates above a threshold (e.g., rates greater than 50 percent, with justification).

Agency: Department of Agriculture
Status: Open

Comments: As of May 2020, the agency has not taken action. When we obtain information from the agency, we will update the status of this recommendation.

Recommendation: To help achieve EQIP's purpose of optimizing environmental benefits, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to modify guidance and ranking tools so that they more accurately value an EQIP application's anticipated environmental benefits relative to estimated costs.

Agency: Department of Agriculture
Status: Open

Comments: As of May 2020, the agency has not taken action. When we obtain information from the agency, we will update the status of this recommendation.