House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today wrote to President Obama requesting that he nominate a permanent Inspector General for the Department of the Interior. Since the Department’s previous Inspector General Earl Devaney was appointed to a new position nearly four years ago, the Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG) has been run by Deputy Inspector… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings today sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew requesting documents and interviews regarding White House officials’ role in the late-night editing of the Interior Department’s Drilling Moratorium Report to make it appear as though the moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico was supported by a panel of engineering experts when… Read more »
Dear Ms. Kendall:
For several months, the Committee on Natural Resources has been looking into questions about possible political interference, lack of independence, and conflict of interest involving an investigation by the Office of Inspector General (“IG”) into the editing of a Department of the Interior offshore drilling report in May 2010.
In order to learn more about the… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) today invited the Department of the Interior’s Acting Inspector General Mary Kendall to testify at a Full Committee hearing on Thursday, August 2nd titled “Oversight of the Actions, Independence and Accountability of the Acting Inspector General of the Department of the Interior.” Click here to read the invite letter.
The… Read more »
Dear Ms. Kendall:
The Committee on Natural Resources will hold an oversight hearing titled “Oversight of the Actions, Independence and Accountability of the Acting Inspector General of the Department of the Interior” on August 2, 2012. The Committee requests your attendance at this hearing to provide testimony and to answer questions.
Read the entire invitation letter HERE. Read more »
Dear Mr. Chairman:
This responds to your letter of May 30, 2012, in which you requested the following information...
The lists you requested are enclosed. We also enclose lists of other energy-related IG reviews that are not specifically focused on renewable energy, as these reflect a significant body of our work. You will notice that an evaluation conducted in 2010 on renewable energy… Read more »
Dear Ms. Kendall:
According to the Inspector General Act of 1978 ("IG Act"), each Inspector General is responsible for conducting, supervising, and coordinating audits and investigations relating to the programs and operations of their respective agency or department. Although intended to be an independent watchdog against waste, fraud, and abuse, an Inspector General is also expected to… Read more »
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) yesterday sent a letter to the Department of the Interior’s Acting Inspector General (IG) Mary Kendall to question her about discrepancies between her testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and documents recently provided to the Committee that suggest she was involved in the process of producing the… Read more »
Interior inspector defends impartiality in report probe
By: Gregory Korte
USA Today
May 23, 2012
When questions came up about how the White House edited an Interior Department report to justify a moratorium on offshore drilling, acting Inspector General Mary Kendall investigated and reported back to Congress only that the report "could have been more clearly worded."
Now documents… Read more »
Dear Ms. Kendall:
As you know, the Committee on Natural Resources ("Committee") has for almost two years been seeking information about how a May 27, 2010 Department of the Interior ("Department") report entitled "Increased Safety Measures for Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf" ("Drilling Moratorium Report") was drafted and then edited in a manner that misrepresented… Read more »
