"The BLM has been headstrong in their determination to offer some of our most spectacular public lands for development," said Stephen Bloch, a staff lawyer for Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which is suing BLM for leasing wild places for drilling.

At the start of the auction, BLM officials warned bidders that their leases were subject to administrative appeals or lawsuits.

Two oil-and-gas outfits also filed auction protests — they wanted dozens more drilling parcels than the bureau accepted from industry nominations.

"We're tired of lands being deferred," said Kurt Reinecke, senior vice president at Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. "We're trying to plan five years to get a drill in the ground. You can't do that with on-and-off sales."

Lee Peacock, president of the Utah Petroleum Association, said it can take years for energy production to take off.

"The beginning step is obtaining leaseholds in areas that are known or speculated to have oil and gas potential," Peacock said in a statement he offers whenever environmental groups object to drilling on public lands. "Without access to those lands we do ourselves a disservice by restricting the energy we need and the economic development that encourages."

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Contributing: Joe Bauman, Deseret Morning News