A group of U.S. congressmen want more oversight of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, claiming the council improperly used taxpayer money and has a history of “improper” lobbying against conservation measures in federal waters.

On Wednesday Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Ed Case and three other members of the U.S. House sent a letter to Richard Spinrad, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, to express their “continued, deep concern with the pattern of mismanagement” of spending at the council, also known as Wespac.

The letter from Case, and Rep. Raul Grijalva, Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Gregorio Sablan, specifically noted the roughly $837,000 in “disallowed costs” that Wespac spent and has yet to repay.

In 2021 the Office of the Inspector General published an audit of Wespac’s spending of federal money, finding that it improperly spent about $1.2 million in awarded funds. After an appeal by the council, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Acquisitions and Grants Office in December dropped that number to just above $837,000 in a final decision.

NOAA gave the council 30 days from that decision to pay back the misspent funds or negotiate a payment plan or other arrangement.

The congressmen’s letter said Wespac has yet to repay its debt and has instead proposed to either “use additional federal funding to deliver on a repayment schedule” or “seek debt forgiveness through the Department of Justice,” which they were displeased with.

“These actions are wholly inadequate and would result in zero accountability for an egregious act of misspent taxpayer dollars,” the letter said, later adding, “Redirecting new federal funds to repayment or simply forgiving the misspent funds without any accountability for those who oversaw or approved such mishandling of federal dollars will further erode the public’s trust in our government’s ability to fulfill its duties responsibly.”

The lawmakers also want to prevent Wespac from “improper grassroots lobbying” against conservation measures in federal waters in the Pacific Ocean, noting that NOAA is holding public meetings and collecting comments for the proposed national marine sanctuary in the Pacific Remote Islands area, or PRIA.

“(Council) staff have worked to oppose marine protections and designations for years, engaging in behind-the-scenes assistance to opponents of such designations and organizing rallies in opposition,” the letter said. “These and other actions amount to improper lobbying with federal funds.”

In March President Joe Biden announced his support for the sanctuary designation and expansion of an existing monument in the waters around the islands. The sanctuary designation could grow the monument from 265,000 square miles to 777,000 square miles, which would make it the largest marine protected area in the world.

Wespac has already expressed its opposition to the proposed sanctuary. In its first council meeting after Biden announced his intent to create a PRIA marine sanctuary, council members, staff and elected officials expressed frustration about the four marine monuments already in the Pacific region or possible sanctuary designations.