Land near Tunnels unleased

The artist who created one of Utah's most famous works of art, the Sun Tunnels in the western desert, is relieved no one bid for oil and gas rights on an adjacent parcel of land.

But Nancy Holt, who lives in New Mexico, added that it's important to keep an eye open to see if the lease sells later. "Tomorrow is the day to look," she said in a telephone interview.

A Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman confirmed that sometimes speculators buy up parcels after a lease auction. Offerings that receive no bids during the auction may go for the minimum $2 an acre, she said.

Holt constructed the Sun Tunnels, located south of Lucin, Box Elder County, in 1975. They have become world-renowned works of art.

Standing on land that Holt owns, the Sun Tunnels are four large concrete tunnels arranged in a gigantic X, oriented so that they line up with the sunrise and sunset during solstices. Holes in the tunnels represent constellations. They regularly draw art lovers and sun-worshippers.

Recently a controversy erupted when the BLM, Utah's largest landowner, offered 31 parcels, comprising more than 45,000 acres, in its quarterly oil and gas lease sale. Among them was a property adjacent to the Sun Tunnels. All parcels had been nominated by industry representatives.

Of those offered, 27 parcels received bids, with buyers paying from $2 to $3,300 per acre. Four parcels, including the 1,280 piece adjacent to the Sun Tunnels, received no bids.

According to Mary L. Wilson, the chief of the external affairs office of the BLM operation in Utah, parcels that received no bids will remain on the market for two years, open to noncompetitive sales at the minimum $2 per acre.

Asked why someone would nominate a parcel but then not bid on it, Wilson replied, "Well, that happens with frequency, that there isn't enough interest in the parcel on the day of the bidding.

"And then perhaps speculators will come in the day after the bidding," assemble a group of parcels that received no bids, and buy the rights for the minimum, she said.

The quarterly sale brought in nearly $9 million, Wilson said in a press release. It quoted Terry Catlin, the agency's lead for oil and gas leasing, that the sale reflects continuing high interest in Utah's energy resources.