SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – An energy company is threatening to use eminent domain to build a natural gas pipeline through an eastern Utah ranch that includes Native American artifacts and rock art.

Ranch co-owner Steve Hansen told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. is threatening to seize property owned by Hansen and five partners for a 3/4-mile easement through Nine Mile Canyon.

Hansen says the pipeline would damage irrigation and archaeological resources, and that other available routes cross public land where roads and pipelines already exist.

Bill Barrett representatives didn't immediately return phone calls from AP.

Company senior vice president Hunt Walker says in an April 15 letter that the ranch is the most feasible route, and that because the pipeline is needed immediately condemnation may be the only option.