I expect our FULL TIME legislators to do this work themselves: not to contract out the work. If the legislators were PART TIME, then an outside review might be worth while. Any full time legislators that are on a committee that oversees the DEQ must be doing this already or they are simply out of touch.
Please look in your disctrict, contact a state environmental consultant organization, go visit with the DEQ in their office. Watch the permit process from the very beginning, starting with the owner's idea, the consultant's field work and application submittal, application processing at the DEQ, the DEQ field staff etc. No report from an outside consultant can summarize the process if you can see it first hand.