MISSOULA -- It's no surprise to Native landowners that a recent watchdog report revealed a culture of corruption within an Interior Department bureau responsible for overseeing lucrative tribal oil revenue accounts.

The in-kind oil royalty program at the Minerals Management Service came under fire as Congress voted on legislation this week to fix ethical lapses unveiled in a three-part investigative report released Sept. 10 by Inspector General Earl Devaney.

"It was nothing new," said Elouise Cobell, a Browning resident and lead plaintiff in a nationwide class-action lawsuit against the Interior Department. "It's the same old behavior."

She said she hoped U.S. District Judge James Robertson was paying attention to the report, which painted a similar picture as other government reports related to the management of Indian trust funds controlled by several Interior Department bureaus, including the Minerals Management Service.

The Lakewood, Colo., based minerals bureau is responsible for collecting money and oil as payment from energy companies who drill on federal and Indian trust lands. The inspector general report said almost a third of the royalty-in-kind employees, who handle billions of dollars of transactions, have been playing fast and loose with energy industry officials, engaging in sex, bribes and drug use.

"The systems are broken and they are broken at MMS," said Cobell, an Indian trust land owner from the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. She filed suit 12 years ago against the Interior Department, arguing the department has swindled Native landowners from as much as $47 billion.

Robertson ruled in August, however, that Native landowners should receive a settlement award of no more than $455 million.

Lawyers for Cobell appealed the decision. And, on Thursday, so did government lawyers who argue that Robertson lacked jurisdiction to issue an award settlement to upward of a half-million Natives.

Meanwhile, in court filings, Cobell lawyers noted that two Minerals Management Service employees in the inspector general report held "important supervisory roles in reforming individual Indian trust processes and systems."

Jimmy Mayberry and Milton Dial were named in the investigation as engaging in "unethical and potentially criminal violations in connection with the formation of a company to bid on, and obtain, lucrative MMS contracts."

One contract involved work integral to Individual Indian Trust data. As he sought the contract, Mayberry included among his key qualifications "specific knowledge and experience in ... Indian trust management associated with oil and gas and solid mineral royalty revenues."

On Thursday, Devaney was providing testimony before a House Natural Resource Committee when a committee member asked if there were other bureaus or areas within the Interior Department that might deserve greater scrutiny.

Devaney said if he had the resources, investigations might be in order for tribal trust lands and the Bureau of Land Management, which also plays a role in managing Indian trust assets. Although the mineral bureau oversees Native trust funds, it has tended to escape judicial review during the Cobell trial.

"We keep bringing it up to the judge that we have not had any type of accounting at MMS at all; everything has been focused on the Bureau of Indian Affairs," said Cobell. "They play a huge role. We've known forever that nobody has done anything to make them accountable. They've been a problem for a long time when it comes to Indian management of royalties."

Cobell was disappointed at how quickly Congress passed legislation on Tuesday calling for ethical oversight of MMS employees, considering decades of government reports that have cited a history of misdeeds and mismanagement within the Interior Department's Indian trust fund system.

"Look at us, look at how many times we testified about the mismanagement of our money," Cobell said. "We've brought these problems out over and over. Nothing gets done. We expect Congress to do something. Look at how many reports we've had. All those reports were out there, but nobody did anything."