Natural Resources and Environment

Recent Reports

Hardrock Mining Management: Selected Countries, U.S. States, and Tribes Have Different Governance Structures but Primarily Use Leasing

GAO-21-298

Published: Jun 30, 2021.

Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2021.

Federal Land Management: Key Differences and Stakeholder Views of the Federal Systems Used to Manage Hardrock Mining

GAO-21-299

Published: Jul 21, 2021.

Publicly Released: Jul 26, 2021.

Federal Lands and Waters: Information on Agency Spending for Outdoor Recreation Is Limited

GAO-21-592

Published: Jul 21, 2021.

Publicly Released: Jul 21, 2021.

Clean Water Act: EPA Needs to Better Assess and Disclose Quality of Compliance and Enforcement Data

GAO-21-290

Published: Jul 12, 2021.

Publicly Released: Jul 12, 2021.

Conflict Minerals: 2020 Company SEC Filings on Mineral Sources Were Similar to Those from Prior Years

GAO-21-531

Published: Jul 12, 2021.

Publicly Released: Jul 12, 2021.

Oil and Gas: Interior Should Strengthen Management of Key Data Systems Used to Oversee Development on Federal Lands

GAO-21-209

Published: May 27, 2021.

Publicly Released: Jun 28, 2021.

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Open Recommendations

Clean Water Act: EPA Needs to Better Assess and Disclose Quality of Compliance and Enforcement Data

GAO-21-290

Jul 12, 2021

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4 Open Recommendations

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Environmental Protection Agency	The Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance should revise its guidance to select files for its State Review Framework assessments of state-reported data to incorporate statistically valid probability sampling. (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 Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance should ensure that consolidated, complete, and updated information on all data limitations is disclosed on the State Water Dashboard. (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 Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance should develop a plan to determine the overall accuracy and completeness of the permit limit and discharge monitoring report data recorded in its national database. (Recommendation 3)	Open When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Environmental Protection Agency	The Assistant Administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance should develop a performance measure to track the reduction in pollutant discharges resulting from enforcement actions for facilities in significant noncompliance and disclose any limitations. (Recommendation 4)	Open When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Pipeline Safety: Performance Measures Needed to Assess Recent Changes to Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Regulations

GAO-21-493

Jun 22, 2021

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1 Open Recommendations

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration	The PHMSA Administrator should develop and use performance measures to assess whether the amendments made by its 2019 Rule to its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations are achieving their desired outcomes and contributing to PHMSA's safety goals for hazardous liquid pipelines. These measures should include targets for the expected levels of performance to be achieved and specific timeframes in which to achieve these results. (Recommendation 1)	Open When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Private Water Utilities: Actions Needed to Enhance Ownership Data

GAO-21-291

Apr 26, 2021

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2 Open Recommendations

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Office of Water	The Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Water should develop definitions for all utility ownership types for regional offices and states to use when entering data on ownership type in EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System and should verify and correct the data as needed. (Recommendation 1)	Open As of July 2021, GAO is following up on this recommendation and will update it when new information is available.
Office of Water	The Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Water should conduct another Community Water System Survey to establish an updated, accurate baseline of drinking water utility information for rulemaking and other purposes. (Recommendation 2)	Open As of July 2021, GAO is following up on this recommendation and will update it when new information is available.

Offshore Oil and Gas: Updated Regulations Needed to Improve Pipeline Oversight and Decommissioning

GAO-21-293

Apr 19, 2021

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1 Open Recommendations

1 Priority

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Other	The BSEE Director should take actions to further develop, finalize, and implement updated pipeline regulations to address long-standing limitations regarding its ability to (1) ensure the integrity of active offshore oil and gas pipelines and (2) address safety and environmental risks associated with their decommissioning. (Recommendation 1)	Open In March 2021, the Department of the Interior indicated that BSEE continues to work toward the publication of a proposed rule to replace its existing pipeline regulations but did not identify an expected completion date.