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CSI: Washington. Attention, forensic experts: The seemingly unstoppable bleeding is coming from the US Treasury (WSJ):

WASHINGTON -- A panel of outside experts has told the Interior Department that the government may not be getting full value for the mineral rights it sells private industry, and that the federal royalty system needs to be revamped.

In a 166-page report, scheduled to be released today, the panel says better training, better audits, improved management and more resources are needed for the department's Minerals Management Service to improve the way it administers development of oil, natural gas and other minerals produced on federal lands. The government collected more than $11 billion in the fiscal year that ended in October, but better management of the program could likely produce much more, according to people familiar with the matter. [...]

The most recent potential revenue-losing problems surfaced in 2004, when four auditors from the service filed lawsuits against the government, claiming that oil and gas companies hadn't complied with reporting requirements. The auditors also claimed that the service had retaliated against them for filing the suits.

This is what happens when you let a sneering unelected oil service CEO (and his hand-picked brand-name blueblood marionette) into the White House.

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