Long Islanders are concerned that the engineering firm hired to conduct a report on Keyspan's manufactured gas plant in Hempstead is a subsidiary of Keyspan Business Solutions -- part of the gas utility being investigated.

Newsday reported that Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor Engineering (PS&S), a Warren, N.J. firm, was approached by Keyspan to present a report on the issue on contamination from the Hempstead plant. At the time, Keyspan did not disclose the fact that PS&S is a Keyspan subsidiary. Now, Keyspan claims that it did nothing wrong by asking PS&S to conduct the report, as PS&S is a licensed firm.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation backed up Keyspan's assertion, saying that hiring an in-house firm is allowed under state regulations. The DEC will review the findings of the report, along with the Department of Health and a third party.