Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Department of the Interior ("Department") is in receipt of your letter dated January 25, 2012, regarding the Department's ongoing response to the Committee's April 25,2011, letter. In that letter, the Committee seeks information regarding the Department's Office ofInspector General 20 10 Report of Investigation into the description of the peer review in the executive summary of the Department's 2010 report entitled "Increased Safety Measures for Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf' (ISM Report). The Department also received your letter of January 31, 2012, acknowledging that Committee staff have located the Department's October 24, 2011, submission to the Committee that provided both documents and an additional offer of accommodation responding to each of the information needs prioritized by the Committee in its last communication prior to the January 25 letter.

The Department respectfully disagrees with the characterization in your January 25 letter that the Department has failed to respond to your requests in a meaningful way or has defied repeated efforts by the Committee to obtain relevant documents and communications related to it. Instead, the communications between your office and the Department reflect the many efforts the Department has made to accommodate the Committee's requests for information related to the OIG investigation of the description of the peer review in the executive summary of the ISM Report.

Read the entire letter HERE.