Report questions financial accountability of American burying beetle program
Oklahoma state and county governments and oil and gas companies have paid millions of dollars to fund conservation efforts to protect an endangered beetle species found in eastern Oklahoma, but there has been little accountability over how part of that money has been used, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released Monday.
U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, requested the report in an effort to bolster his argument that the American burying beetle should be removed from the endangered species list.
“This GAO investigation reinforces the need for more rigorous oversight of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the mitigation programs managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service,” Lankford said Monday in a news release. “The listing of the American burying beetle unnecessarily places burdensome land-use restrictions to build roads, water resources and energy infrastructure in many of our communities.”
The black and orange American burying beetle is a scavenger insect named for its unique behavior of burying small animal carcasses to provide a source of nourishment for its developing young.
Once present in 30 U.S. states and parts of Canada, the beetle’s known populations had been reduced to living in eastern Oklahoma and Block Island, R.I., by the late 1980s. That prompted the government to place the insect on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species list.
The Fish and Wildlife Service subsequently instituted a number of conservation measures.
In some cases, businesses and governmental entities have been required to relocate projects to protect the insect.
In other cases — where relocation isn’t feasible — entities have been authorized to make payments to conservation banks which fund the management of habitats for the beetle away from the construction area. At times, entities also have been allowed to make “in lieu” payments to third-party conservation organizations that plan to purchase and manage habitats for the beetles.
The conservation efforts have been successful in progressing toward the main goal. Population of the beetles has rebounded since the 1980s and the American burying beetle is now present in at least 10 states, including 31 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties, the GAO report said.
However, GAO investigators said they were unable to track how some of the in lieu payments were utilized because of “missing data and other errors.”
The report noted that a fund for conservation projects was created within the Nebraska Community Foundation in 2012, but said no money had been spent on any such projects as of October 2016 because the fund had not yet reached a minimum threshold of $150,000 designated as the amount needed to develop landscape-scale mitigation.
Mitigation efforts can be costly for entities like the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and county governments that build roads and bridges.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation “has spent about $7 million to reserve mitigation credits that we estimate will cover the needs of our construction program through 2025,” agency spokesman Cody Boyd said Monday.
“The Oklahoma Department of Transportation appreciates the efforts of Sen. Lankford and the Government Accountability Office looking into this issue and helping ensure that the money spent on American burying beetle mitigation efforts is properly accounted for,” Boyd said. “The agency looks forward to working with Congress and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on future reforms to this program that will keep transportation projects moving.”
Lankford said he remains concerned about the rigor of scientific information used to continue to list the American burying beetle on the endangered species list.
“In states like mine with high beetle populations, the endangered species listing creates real economic problems,” Lankford said.