Craig Daily Press
January 4, 2012, Joe Moylan

On Dec. 13, the Moffat County Commission unanimously approved conducting its third mineral lease auction. Up for grabs were 32 tracts encompassing 444 mineral acres owned by the Museum of Northwest Colorado, plus an additional 200 acres divided into two parcels owned by Moffat County. On Wednesday, county officials released results of the sealed bid auction, in which all 34 tracts were leased — netting more than $152,000 and $158,000 for the museum and county, respectively. The biggest earner in the latest auction was a 46-acre parcel owned by the county, known as Tract 133, located underneath the Moffat County Fairgrounds. Gulfport Energy Corporation outbid Westpoint Energy, Inc., for Tract 133 by offering a price of $2,510.33 per acre for a total of $116,730. “I don’t know how you could justify stopping it now,” Mathers said. “How do you tell a company’s shareholders they can’t develop the minerals after they have just forked over that kind of money?”...

http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2012/jan/04/mineral-lease-auction-yields-funds-moffat-county-m/