Conflict of interest? The consultants paid by the oil and gas industry are reducing a backlog of drilling permits

Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake Tribune Home Page: "07/09/2005 09:16:47 AM |
Oil industry providing workers for BLM office | Conflict of interest? The consultants are reducing a backlog of drilling permits | By Robert Gehrke | The Salt Lake Tribune

WASHINGTON - Consultants paid by the oil and gas industry have been volunteering to work for the Bureau of Land Management's Vernal office for the past five months, expediting environmental studies to keep pace with a glut of drilling requests in the region.

The arrangement alarms environmental groups, which say it creates a clear conflict of interest and could compromise the work they do.

'This is very troubling,' said Steve Bloch, an attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. 'It's akin to the foxes guarding the henhouse. These are public lands and there clearly is a quid pro quo expected here, that there is going to be faster permitting, faster approval rates, and instead they really should be taking their time to make sure they're doing it right.' "