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Open Recommendations

Coal Mine Reclamation: Additional Actions Needed to Return Mined Lands to Beneficial Uses
GAO-27-107499
Nov 12, 2026
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should conduct strategic workforce planning related to OSMRE—particularly the Title V program to oversee active coal mines—that defines critical skills and competencies that will be required to meet its strategic program goals in the future. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of OSMRE to take actions to improve its timeliness for reviewing proposed amendments to regulatory authority programs. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of OSMRE to develop performance measures and collect corresponding data to track the length of time between a mine's date of last production and progress toward completing reclamation and returning the site to beneficial post-mining uses. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of OSMRE to resume publishing the required OSMRE annual nationwide performance report on the Title V program. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Superfund: EPA Should Collect and Use Information on the Effectiveness of Its Recovery of Cleanup Costs
GAO-27-107925
Nov 05, 2026
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator of EPA should ensure that the Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance establishes goals related to cost recovery effectiveness for nonfederal NPL sites. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator of EPA should ensure that the Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance routinely and systematically collects performance information on cost recovery effectiveness for nonfederal NPL sites. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator of EPA should ensure that the Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance uses performance information to regularly assess progress towards reaching EPA's cost recovery effectiveness goals for nonfederal NPL sites and inform decision-making for future efforts. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Army Corps of Engineers: Determinations That Projects Do Not Need Environmental Mitigation Should Be Clarified
GAO-27-108551
Oct 08, 2026
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Corps of Engineers The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works should ensure that the Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers develop guidance for the Corps on documenting and justifying its determinations that no mitigation is needed for Civil Works projects in reports submitted to Congress for authorization. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Tribal Water Infrastructure: Opportunities Exist to Improve Federal Assistance
GAO-26-107178
Sep 22, 2026
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15 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Indian Health Service The Director of IHS should ensure that the Director of the Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction updates IHS policy, in consultation with Tribes, to reflect a new statutory definition of "Indian homes, communities, and lands" if such a definition is enacted. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Indian Health Service The Director of IHS should ensure that the Director of the Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction, in consultation with Tribes, evaluates whether $10,000 is an appropriate limit for funding existing community buildings, in light of inflation and increases in costs for labor and materials since the amount was set in 1985, and adjust the limit as appropriate. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Indian Health Service The Director of IHS should ensure that the Director of the Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction, in coordination with the HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Programs, aggregates IHS's information about the potential estimated costs to serve homes and HUD's information about the number of new homes built with IHBG funding to estimate the cost of providing water connections for newly built HUD-funded homes, and report this information to Congress, to be updated as requested. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of HUD should ensure that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Programs, in coordination with the IHS Director of the Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction, aggregates HUD's information about the number of new homes built with IHBG funding and IHS's information about the potential estimated costs to serve homes to estimate the cost of providing water connections for newly built HUD-funded homes, and report this information to Congress, to be updated as requested. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of HUD should ensure that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Programs publicly communicates information to Tribes about how HUD considered tribal input provided through its tribal consultation about the statutory prohibition on IHS using its appropriations to provide water infrastructure for new homes built with HUD housing grant programs, along with any outcomes from that consultation. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator of EPA should direct its regions that use a solicitation process to administer the Drinking Water Infrastructure Grant Tribal Set-Aside program to streamline the application process for projects that are already included in IHS's Sanitation Deficiency System database and where Tribes request that EPA transfer project funding to IHS. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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