Bureau of Land Management officials are defending their decision to offer an oil and gas lease on a parcel adjacent to the Sun Tunnels art work in Utah's western desert.

The world-famous tunnels were created by artist Nancy Holt in 1975 on 40 acres of desert land that she owns a few miles south of Lucin, Box Elder County. They are four concrete pipes, each weighing 22 tons, and each is 18 feet long by 9 feet wide.

Arranged in a huge X shape measuring 86 feet from the end of one tunnel to the end of its opposite, each is carved with holes representing constellations. At solstices, pairs of tunnels line up with the rising and setting sun.

Besides the attraction to sun-fans and modern Druid types, the Sun Tunnels are renowned in the art world.

BLM officials in Utah are offering 45,006 acres, comprising 31 parcels, in a lease sale set for Tuesday. One of these involves 1,280 acres adjacent to the Sun Tunnels.

Holt, who lives in New Mexico, filed a formal objection with the BLM challenging the lease sale. She said that if development occurs on the parcel, it could obstruct the view involving the sun tunnels, according to the agency. (Holt could not be reached Sunday for comment.)

"We were aware prior to her filing the protest that this parcel was next to the Sun Tunnels," said Adrienne Babbitt, spokeswoman for the BLM.

To check whether the tunnels represent an impediment to the sale, officials consulted the Utah Historic Preservation Office, said Mary Wilson of the BLM in a press release. The office determined there would be "no historic properties affected," Wilson added.

Babbitt added that the BLM has the tools it needs to mitigate impacts on the adjacent property.

"If they actually wanted to put a well on the parcel, BLM would conduct an environmental analysis," she said. "We could have an opportunity at that time to move the well in order to prevent it from impacting the view of the Sun Tunnel location."

According to the news release, oil and gas activity has not occurred in the area, and if development were authorized "impacts to the visitors could be minimized by mitigation measures and BLM's authority to relocate any proposed well by approximately 1,000 feet."

Babbitt told the Deseret Morning News that this lease sale is the smallest the BLM has held in Utah in the last decade. "Many of our ones the last couple of years have been 300,000-acres plus," she said.

Court decisions concerning BLM analysis of land that may have wilderness potential has led the agency to withhold many parcels, for now. Before those can be offered, BLM needs to carry out additional environmental analysis.

"We had almost 200,000 acres nominated for the sale, but we'll only be offering less than a quarter of that," Babbitt added.

Oil and gas industry representatives nominate parcels for sale, but the sales can be delayed if environmental or other questions arise. She said that over the past few years, the BLM has deferred about 2.5 million acres from lease sales in Utah.

Asked if the land near the Sun Tunnels was nominated for the sale, Babbitt replied, "We don't offer any parcels unless they were nominated by industry."

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