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.