Interior’s Bureau of Land Management has little assurance it obtains market value for mineral materials, recovers processing costs for mineral contracts, verifies sales production or resolves issues related to unauthorized use, the department’s inspector general has said.
It said BLM sells materials such as sand and gravel, stone, pumice, or other construction-related materials, and in fiscal 2011 issued about 2,800 contracts and permits to sell mineral materials, including 2,616 sales valued at approximately $17 million.
However, BLM’s management of the program is hindered by outdated regulations and policies, and does not always recover the processing costs for mineral materials contracts, resulting in nearly $850,000 of lost revenue to the government.
BLM also does not verify production volumes reported for sales, and it may not be collecting other mineral fees, the IG said. It called on the agency to update program guidance and collaborate with the Department’s Office of Valuation Services to ensure that the mineral materials program operates more efficiently and obtains adequate compensation for mineral materials sold from federal land.