The BLM sold leases on 262 parcels for just over $54 million during the day-long auction at its Gateway offices in downtown Salt Lake City, nearly doubling the previous high of $28 million, set in September of 2004.

"We had a lot of interest, a lot of spirited bidding," BLM spokeswoman Lola Bird said.

That interest was apparent by the fact that the agency sold leases on the bulk of the 295 parcels that were originally offered up - which translated into 392,000 acres out of 438,000 offered. The highest bid was $3,000 per acre.

But the sale also underscored that this was perhaps the most controversial energy lease auction the Utah BLM has staged. Nearly $30 million was generated off the sale of parcels that previously had been protested by conservation and outdoor recreation groups.

Tuesday's largest single parcel sale, a 1,875-acre tract which went for $3.7 million, was a protested parcel in Carbon County.

"The BLM has completely lost sight of its mandate to manage the public lands for a variety of interests which are not limited to oil and gas development, and include things like recreation, wildlife habitat and wilderness," said Steve Bloch, an attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

"There's a surplus of leased acreage already and a surplus of approved permits to drill. What the energy industry is doing is stockpiling leases while the getting is good," he said.

BLM officials called Tuesday's lease sale "a decisive cut" because it included many parcels that had been previously deferred because of protests. Among the parcels put back out for bid were those on top of Nine Mile Canyon, near Canyonlands and Capitol Reef national parks and in several locations along the Green River, including the Desolation Canyon area.

"BLM recognized that the May Lease Sale would include some very hard calls," BLM spokeswoman Adrienne Babbitt said earlier this month. "With the revision of BLM's land use plans pending, we had to ensure that leasing certain parcels would not preclude final decisions in the [plans].

"Where existing stipulations existed that protected the values of concern, BLM made the decision to lease. In many cases, if adequate stipulations were not in place, BLM deferred leasing."

Energy companies and county officials protested several parcels that were withheld by the agency.

Bloch said SUWA will likely mount a legal challenge to halt exploration and drilling on what it considers the most threatened parcels.

"The burden is on the BLM to think first and lease later," he said. "If a protest is ultimately denied, we're not left with any option but to challenge it."

jbaird@sltrib.com