Summary: GAO concludes that the Department of the Interior exceeded authorized spending limits when it built recreation facilities at both the Boise Project, a series of reservoirs providing irrigation, hydroelectric power, and flood control in Idaho, and the Minidoka Project, a dam and reservoir located in Idaho and Wyoming. The recreation facilities include recreational vehicle and tent campsites, group picnic shelters, trails, and paved roads and parking lots. Plans are also under way to build a marina complex and a visitor center. In addition, Reclamation has not entered into all of the required cost-sharing agreements with nonfederal entities. As a result, the taxpayers and users of Bonneville hydroelectric power have picked up much of the tab to run the facilities, rather than those who have benefitted from them. Reclamation has avoided congressional scrutiny of the costs to build the recreation facilities by identifying them as minimum public health and safety facilities. In GAO's view, Reclamation should be forced to comply with the law or obtain specific congressional authorization to continue running the facilities at taxpayers' expense.
