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The Minerals Management Service's oil and gas royalty collection program suffers from mismanagement, ethical lapses and fears of retaliation against whistle-blowers, according to a report by the Interior Department's Inspector General .
The report uncovered a host of issues with the royalty collection program, including a cozy relationship with the oil industry and outdated collection procedures that need improving.
"It demonstrates a Band-Aid approach to holding together one of the federal government's largest revenue-producing operations," Inspector General Earl Devaney wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.
The agency, which is responsible for collecting about $10 billion annually in royalties from oil and natural gas production on public land, is "fraught with difficulties stemming from myriad causes," Devaney wrote.
The report is the result of a year-long investigation in...