"A liberal watchdog group says the State Department’s inspector general (IG) is probing possible conflicts of interest in the federal environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline."

"The Checks and Balances Project said it will unveil evidence next Wednesday of an IG inquiry into State’s use of Environmental Resources Management (ERM), the consultants behind State's March draft analysis that gave Keystone a largely clean bill of health.

In April, Checks and Balances and other green groups called for an IG probe.

Their request followed revelations in Mother Jones magazine that a senior ERM analyst had worked as a consultant for Keystone developer TransCanada Corp. on previous projects."

Ben Geman reports for The Hill's E2 Wire May 24, 2013. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Keystone XL Handled Well By State Department, Inspector General Says" (Politico: 2/9/2012) [3]