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Open Recommendations

Nuclear Waste: Addressing Legal and Regulatory Barriers Could Accelerate Cleanup and Reduce Costs
GAO-27-107791
Oct 16, 2026
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9 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The DOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management should direct DOE cleanup sites to evaluate and document the expected costs and potential schedule associated with cleanup of a particular area based on multiple potential future land use assumptions when substantial cost or schedule benefits could potentially be achieved using a future land use assumption other than the one initially selected. This evaluation should occur prior to the selection of a cleanup approach for that area and be included as part of the decision-making process. (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 clarify or provide additional guidance on considering reasonably anticipated future land use as part of the environmental cleanup process at DOE cleanup sites. Specifically, EPA should provide guidance on (1) how DOE should evaluate and document if an anticipated future land use is realistic and supports cost-effective and practicable cleanup alternatives, (2) when this evaluation should be done in the cleanup process, and (3) when multiple future land use assumptions should be incorporated at later stages in the cleanup process, such as at stages where alternative cleanup options are being considered and evaluated. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy, in collaboration with EPA and other relevant federal agencies, as appropriate, should develop options that could allow DOE to clean up iodine-129 and other beta-emitting radionuclides in groundwater at DOE sites to levels that consider current scientific methods, and report those options to Congress along with plans to pursue them. (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 Administrator of EPA, in collaboration with DOE and other relevant federal agencies, as appropriate, should develop options that could allow DOE to clean up iodine-129 and other beta-emitting radionuclides in groundwater at DOE sites to levels that consider current scientific methods, and report those options to Congress along with plans to pursue them. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy, in collaboration with EPA, should establish an interagency task force of experts focused on DOE's nuclear waste cleanup to review high-priority site and project-level cleanup decisions, ongoing cleanup processes, and areas of legal or regulatory disagreement that are driving higher-than-expected costs and longer schedules and make recommendations for DOE and EPA to implement. (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, in collaboration with DOE, should establish an interagency task force of experts focused on DOE's nuclear waste cleanup to review high-priority site and project-level cleanup decisions, ongoing cleanup processes, and areas of legal or regulatory disagreement that are driving higher-than-expected costs and longer schedules and make recommendations for DOE and EPA to implement. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Critical Minerals: BLM Should Ensure Individuals and Businesses Meet Citizenship Requirements for Hardrock Mining Claims
GAO-27-108196
Oct 16, 2026
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Bureau of Land Management The Director of BLM should direct BLM staff to collect citizenship information from mining claimants and document that they meet the citizenship requirements under U.S. mining laws to hold mining claims. (Recommendation 1)
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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