A staff lawyer for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, however, said BLM was willing to waive environmental regulations even for sensitive and wilderness-quality areas around Nine Mile Canyon.

"Congress established categorical exclusions to streamline the process, not to eviscerate it, but that's how the Bush administration has interpreted it," Stephen Bloch said Tuesday.

"There's been concern since this was passed in 2005 that this was going to be a loophole exploited by the industry and the Bush administration. We certainly think there are some abuses happening, and we're pleased GAO is going to look into it," he said.

The director of GAO inquiry, Robin Anzzaro, said her team was starting in Utah to gather facts and statistics and wouldn't make a judgment about the BLM's "high number of categorical exclusion."

The request, she said, came from the House Natural Resources Committee and its Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Both panels are chaired by Democrats.

An executive for Bill Barrett Corp. called the inquiry political.

"You have a couple of congressmen that know little to nothing about oil and gas and even less about public land management ordering an investigation into categorical exclusions by an agency that knows less than nothing about oil and gas and public lands management," said Duane Zavadil, vice president for government affairs for Bill Barrett Corp. "It's political grandstanding."

The publicly traded company expects to receive government approval by year's end for the 800-plus gas wells. Zavadil said his company was funding an environmental impact study; a draft version released earlier this year drew 58,000 objections, including one from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which registered concerns about air emissions and protection for Nine Mile Canyon's rock art.