Pursuit's Take
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), created as part of the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, is the Department’s statistical and analytical component. EIA is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. The Office of Inspector General received a complaint alleging that the weekly and monthly data and statistics reported by EIA had been inappropriately altered for the past 10 to 15 years.
During the course of our review, OIG identified two areas of concern related to EIA’s WPSR reporting process that increased the risk of publishing inaccurate reports. Specifically, we found that EIA’s written policies and procedures governing the development of the WPSR were neither complete, updated, nor had they been disseminated to EIA analysts, and EIA was relying on and publishing at least two estimated figures related to lease stocks data that could not be supported.