For those who seek out the jetty, the reward in recent years of low lake levels has been an exposed artwork like nothing else in the world. Dia and critics of drilling, including Friends of the Great Salt Lake, contend the jetty and those viewing it will be negatively impacted, first by a drilling rig and then by any pumping operations about five miles away.

"My personal opinion is it's not going to present any great eyesore or change to a visit to the jetty," Springer said. He described the likely drilling platform to be about 16 feet by 16 feet and about six feet high. "It would be interesting to see what that looks like five miles away."

In separate phone interviews, Springer and Styler also mentioned that the jetty was built a few hundred yards from old oil operations. Springer has seen the natural oil seeps on the surface of Great Salt Lake waters near the 1970 artwork that connects to the shore at Rozel Point.

"There is oil in the lake — we all know that," Styler said. He wants to make sure Pearl's plans don't compromise the environment or jetty. "My personal opinion is that it can be done pretty safely."

The question Pearl will have to answer, Styler added, is whether today's technology is advanced enough to pull oil from the area that is difficult to reach and process and still make a profit.

Springer noted that another irony is how the state wouldn't approve a proposal these days to build something like what Smithson created three years before he died in 1973.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com