Editing Project on Government Oversight (section)

== Whistleblower award incident ==
In 1998, POGO, the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]], and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit under the [[False Claims Act]], suing the largest oil and gas companies operating in the United States. The lawsuit alleged that the companies had defrauded the government by underpaying royalties owed for drilling on federal lands. By 2002, 15 companies had settled, paying a total of almost $440 million.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/business/yourmoney/03whistle.html|title=Blowing the Whistle on Big Oil|last=Andrews|first=Edmund L.|date=2006-12-03|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-09-09|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> POGO was awarded about $1.2 million from the settlements in 1998. That year, POGO shared its settlement with two federal employee whistleblowers, saying the payment was a "Public Service Award" to the whistleblowers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2012/12/17/mistrial-declared-in-case-of-watchdog-group|title=Mistrial declared in case of watchdog group|last=Frommer|first=Frederic J.|date=2012-12-17|agency=Associated Press|access-date=2017-09-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218010458/http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2012/12/17/mistrial-declared-in-case-of-watchdog-group|archive-date=2012-12-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Following the news of the award in 1999, U.S. Senator [[Frank Murkowski]] asked the [[Government Accountability Office|General Accounting Office]] to investigate whether the payment represented "improper influence" on the Department of the Interior's new oil royalty valuation policy. The agency released a report in 2000 that said it appeared POGO paid the two employees to influence the Department of the Interior to take actions and make policies that benefited POGO.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8jFG884WKQC&q=Project+On+Government+Oversight&pg=PA4|title=Report on an Inquiry into Payments Made by the Project on Government Oversight to Two Federal Officials|publisher=General Accounting Office|date=July 2000|isbn=9781428918436|language=en}}</ref> While calling the payments a "mistake" on POGO's part, U.S. Senator [[Jeff Bingaman]] disputed the agency's report, saying that it did not provide any evidence that the payments were improper.<ref>Bingaman, Jeff (U.S. Sen) (September 5, 2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=vLg4iJR0J9kC&dq=Project+On+Government+Oversight&pg=PA16998 Congressional Record, 106th Congress, Volume 145 Part 12. Pg. 16998] U.S. Government Printing Office.</ref>

In 2000, U.S. Representative [[Don Young]] threatened bringing a [[Contempt of Congress]] charge against POGO, after the organization refused to comply with a [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] subpoena for documents relating to the payments.<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB05285C5D897A1&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM House Panel Seeks Contempt of Congress Charges Against Watchdog Group - Organization exposed oil companies' underpayment of royalties to government]. [[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] ([[Associated Press|AP]]), July 20, 2000.  Retrieved 2010-07-15.</ref> Young later withdrew the charge, lacking the votes for passage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AS&p_theme=as&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F793BC69905225D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Whistle-blower vote stopped|last=Whitney|first=David|date=2000-10-28|website=Alaska Dispatch|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref> The report, hearings, and contempt threat were described by Martin Lobel, an attorney involved in the case, as being driven by "oil company congressional lapdogs" bent on hounding oil industry enemies and derailing regulatory reform.<ref>Lobel, Martin (September 20, 2000). [http://www.tompaine.com/Archive/scontent/3642.html WITH A VENGEANCE: Big Oil Uses Its Congressional Lapdogs to Hound Its Enemies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110730172358/http://www.tompaine.com/Archive/scontent/3642.html |date=2011-07-30 }}. ''TomPaine.com''; [[Institute for America's Future]]</ref>

In 2003, the Department of Justice filed a civil action against POGO and one of the federal employees, and a [[United States district court|U.S. district judge]] ruled in favor of the agency. POGO appealed the case and went to trial in 2008, where a jury found POGO and the federal employee had violated the law. The judge ordered POGO to pay only $120,000 because he said the organization had acted "in good faith" when they made the payments. However, in 2010, the appeals court found the district judge had made a mistake in his directions to the jury. POGO and the agency went to trial again in 2012, but a mistrial was declared after jurors couldn't come to a unanimous verdict.<ref name=":1" /> A month later, in 2013, the Department of Justice said it would not litigate on the matter for a third time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law360.com/articles/404450|title=DOJ Shuns 3rd Trial In POGO Gov't Worker Payment Case|last=Teichert|first=Erica|date=2013-12-03|website=Law360|language=en|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref>