Giving consultants who are paid by the oil and gas industry some say-so over when it's environmentally safe to drill in the Uinta Basin casts doubt over the Bureau of Land Management's dedication to protecting the area's land and wildlife.

How can the BLM objectively assess the potential effects of granting a drilling permit on the basis of information provided by consultants who are paid by the companies that desperately want the permits to be approved? Clearly, it cannot.

With oil prices at near-record highs and demand for gas on the rise, companies are clamoring for permits to drill in the energy-rich basin. The BLM received 1,100 applications last year and expects to see 1,200 this year, many more than the office's budget-challenged staff can handle.

So, to expedite the processing of permits, which includes assessing their possible effects on the environment, a group of oil and gas companies, through their trade group, Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, generously - like a fox with an ulterior motive - hired consultants to work on the applications, at no charge to the BLM's Vernal office.

The investment of IPAMS appears to be substantial. The five consultants - experts in archaeology, paleontology, geology and wildlife biology - have worked fulltime for the BLM since mid-February and are now working on a month-to-month basis, paid by the gas and oil companies.

The BLM has assured concerned environmental groups that it has insulated the consultants so they cannot know if the projects they are assigned involve the companies that are paying their salaries. The agency says all their work is thoroughly reviewed by the harried BLM staff.

Maybe. But this deal certainly has the look of favoring industry over the public's interest. At the very least, it creates a temptation to rush through a process that should not be hurried.

The BLM field manager for Vernal says the office needs help and "as long as the information coming in is without prejudice, we'll take it."

As long as the consultants are paid by the companies, it is impossible to rule out bias. That is reason enough to make the henhouse strictly off limits to the helping hands of the oil and gas industry.