Dear Friends,  

       The epic fight to ward off global warming and transform the energy system that is at the core of our planet’s economy takes many forms: huge global days of action, giant international conferences like the one that just failed in Copenhagen, small gestures in the homes of countless people. 

        But there are a few signal moments, and one comes next month, when the federal government puts Tim DeChristopher on trial in Salt Lake City. Tim—“Bidder 70”-- pulled off one of the most creative protests against our runaway energy policy in years: he bid for the oil and gas leases on several parcels of federal land even though he had no money to pay for them, thus upending the auction. The government calls that “violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act” and thinks he should spend ten years in jail for the crime; we call it a noble act, a profound gesture made on behalf of all of us and of the future.  

       Tim’s action drew national attention to the fact that the Bush Administration spent its dying days in office handing out a last round of favors to the oil and gas industry. After investigating irregularities in the auction, the Obama Administration took many of the leases off the table, with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar criticizing the process as “a headlong rush.” And yet that same Administration is choosing to prosecute the young man who blew the whistle on this corrupt process. 

       We cannot let this stand. When Tim disrupted the auction, he did so in the fine tradition of non-violent civil disobedience that changed so many unjust laws in this country’s past. Tim’s upcoming trial is an occasion to raise the alarm once more about the peril our planet faces. The situation is still fluid—the trial date has just been set, and local supporters are making plans for how to mark the three-day proceedings. But they are asking people around the country to flood into Salt Lake City in mid-March. If you come, there will be ample opportunity for both legal protest and civil disobedience. For example:    

       #Outside the courthouse, there will be a mock trial, with experts like NASA’s Jim Hansen providing the facts that should be heard inside the chambers. We don’t want Tim on trial—we want global warming on the stand.     

       #Demonstrators will be using the time-honored tactics of civil disobedience to make their voices heard outside the courthouse in an effort to prevent “business as usual”—it’s business as usual that’s wrecking the earth.            

       #There will be evening concerts and gatherings, including a “mini-summit” to share ideas on how the climate movement should proceed in the years ahead. This is a people’s movement that draws power from around the globe; for a few days its headquarters will be Salt Lake City.           

       You can get the most up-to-date news at climatetrial.com, including schedules for non-violence training, and information about legal representation. If you’re coming, bring not only your passion but also your creativity—we need lots of art and music to help make the point that we won’t sit idly by while the government tries to scare the environmental movement into meek cooperation. This kind of trial is nothing but intimidation—and the best answers to intimidation are joy and resolve. That’s what we’ll need in Utah.   

       We know it’s short notice. Some of us won’t be able to make it to Utah because we have other commitments or are limiting travel, and if you’re in the same situation, climatetrial.com will also have details of solidarity actions in other parts of the country. If you can contribute money to help make the week’s events possible, click here. But more than your money we need your body, your brains, and your heart. In a landscape of little water, where redrock canyons rise upward like praying hands, we can offer our solidarity to the wild:  wild lands and wild hearts.  Tim DeChristopher deserves and needs our physical and spiritual support in the name of a just and vibrant community. 

Thank you for standing with us,

Naomi Klein,

Bill McKibben,

Terry Tempest Williams

Dr. James Hansen

Please forward to your lists and contacts. Thank you.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reached the right decision last week when he put eight parcels of land near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Desolation Canyon on the Green River and Nine Mile Canyon near Price off-limits to oil and gas drilling.

Drilling leases on the parcels, which encompass 7,670 acres, were auctioned by the Bureau of Land Management last December as the Bush administration rushed to open as much public land as possible to energy development before leaving Washington. Salazar rightly criticized the sale and his predecessor's disregard for the ecological treasures at the sites and willingness to sidestep environmental assessments routinely required before putting land on the auction block.

The sale was the subject of a lawsuit brought by environmental groups when it was disrupted by a protester, Tim DeChristopher, who offered bogus bids in order to save these lands from the degradation of energy development. He's facing felony charges. Later, a federal judge halted the lease sale on 77 parcels, which included the eight near the protected public lands, saying the sale had violated federal law requiring thorough environmental analysis.

Salazar last week quoted from a just-released Interior Department analysis that found the risk of damage to these fragile lands -- also home to the endangered sage grouse -- would not be offset by the relatively small potential benefits of drilling them for oil and gas.

Salazar said that further study will be conducted on 52 parcels, and 17 will be sold at upcoming auctions. He said he would issue a secretarial order in 30 days detailing how his department will proceed with energy development on public land.

That will be a welcome roadmap for energy companies that are looking for long-range guidelines. And it should provide some comfort to those who seek to protect natural resources in the West, including wildlife, scenic values, recreation, ancient ruins and rock art, and water and air quality.

While domestic oil production is important to help wean America off foreign oil, and gas drilling is needed to help end our addiction to coal for electrical power and gasoline for vehicles, it would be indefensibly shortsighted to sacrifice the region's irreplaceable natural resources along the way.

Utah realizes substantial revenue from tourism that depends on outdoor recreationists. To mar the landscapes of national parks, ruin the outdoor experience of river runners, or to destroy priceless ancient rock art would be destructive to the state's economy and long-term welfare. Salazar's action on the leases will prove beneficial to Utah.

Still, the outlaw spirit lives on in the work of contemporary monkeywrenchers like Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old college student who singlehandedly disrupted a multi-million-dollar land auction that would have put hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in southern Utah in the hands of oil and gas companies. But DeChristopher didn't use sabotage or homemade bombs—just chutzpah. (See the top 10 green ideas of 2008.)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which administers America's public lands, was running the auction on Dec. 19, in the waning days of the Bush Administration. Environmental groups including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) had been fighting the move, arguing that the energy companies would damage nearby national parks and culturally sensitive areas. But the fight seemed lost, until DeChristopher, an economics student at the University of Utah, arrived at the sale. "I saw this as a very corrupt and fraudulent process, and a threat to my future," he says.

He decided to do something, but what? He thought about making a show or a speech, but as he watched the rapid-fire auction unfold around him he had an idea. He would bid himself—entirely without the cash to pay for any land he might win. "I thought I'd just drive up the prices," DeChristopher says.

If BLM officials thought it was odd that a 27-year-old dressed like he'd just gotten out of class—as DeChristopher had—was bidding for oil and gas leases, they didn't say anything. At first he simply bid near the beginning of an auction, to keep prices rolling, but as the sales continued, he started to win plots of land—12 parcels in all, more than 22,000 acres, at the cost of $1.79 million. By the end, DeChristopher was simply bidding nonstop, and BLM officials finally caught on to what he was doing and took him into custody. Though now in the hands of the feds, he remains cool. "I told them I was there to commit civil disobedience and that this was a fraudulent auction," he says. (See pictures of the world's most polluted places.)

At the time, authorities made noises about prosecuting DeChristopher if he failed to come up with the funds. He and his friends put out an appeal on the Internet, and less than a month after the sale, he had raised over $100,000 in donations, enough to cover legal expenses and the initial payment for the land rights. It's not clear at the moment whether the BLM will even take his money. The legal status of the parcels is in limbo, pending an ongoing investigation—as is the question of whether or not the government continues to plan to press charges. DeChristopher says any consequences are worth it. "I've been very surprised by how much support we've gotten," he says. "It's so exciting to see how many people share my value for the land and the climate."

Though DeChristopher's unique protest brought significant attention to the Utah auction—CBS News, among others, profiled him—the sale was doomed for other reasons. On Jan. 17 a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the BLM, siding with the green groups that argued that oil and gas exploration would inflict irreparable harm on the local environment. The BLM has yet to respond, but the Obama Administration has indicated in the past that it is opposed to the lease. DeChristopher's actions may or may not have been noticed by the White House, but greens insist they certainly didn't hurt. "Tim brought a different perspective and more attention to the sale," says Steve Bloch, SUWA's attorney on the case.

He may have also inspired more monkeywrenchers. On Mar. 2, environmentalists led by elders like Bill McKibben and Wendell Barry will descend on Washington to take direct action against a coal plant near the Capital, engaging in civil disobedience. That might not be on par with the fictional perpetrators' brand of eco-mayhem, but today's greens—like those in literature—are at least willing to put their bodies where their rhetoric is.

He is often called the Monkey Wrencher, after the Edward Abbey novel where a bunch of Utards throw Greek fire at mining equipment. But forget that book — Tim DeChristopher (real), is so much better than the Monkey Wrench Gang (imaginary), for six main reasons, the greatest of which is mentioned last — results.

1. Excitement.

Did you read the Monkey Wrench Gang? Someone needed to tell Abbey: THIS IS BORING. You don’t need to wax poetic about the mountain, the type of rock it is, how it was formed as a kind of afterthought of the Lord. You just need to blow it up. DeChristopher barely looked at the land he was bidding on. He just snuck into the BLM lease, MacGyver style, and bought it, even though he was broke. (That this land happened to be as beautiful as La-La was luck.) He was St. George walking into the mouth of the dragon, and the fact that he later came up with a plan to actually buy the land just added to the drama. (DeChristopher could still get five years.)

2. Dialogue.

All the characters in Monkey sound the same — painfully self-righteous. In the real world, where even the Kennedies are inarticulate, DeChristopher summarizes beautifully: “I’d been reading Vaclav Havel … and he said that the first and most important thing they did in resisting an oppressive regime was they just began to act as if they lived in a free and democratic society.”

3. Violence vs. nonviolence.

Abbey’s characters can light fuses and derail trains, but where’s the genius in lighting a match? Real-life ELF idjits can burn down SUV lots and ski lodges and achieve … what? … bunch of bad PR and pollution and, on the positive side, more work for rural carpenters. DeChristopher destroyed squat. How does it make sense, anyway, to save land by blowing it up?

4. Expletives.

In Abbey’s book, expletives always feel extra, thrown in, as if he’s trying to make these bleeding-heart characters seem more salt-of-the-earth. Tim, born in West Virginia, a Christian, church-goin’ man, uses few expletives, even when they are explicitly called for in such sentences as, “These were really unique parcels that would never have been available under any other administration other than Bush or Cheney. They were just trying to destroy as much as they could.”

5. Surprising characters.

Abbey’s are pure stock, cardboard cutouts, but Tim is a possible felon who studies economics and took drug-addicted kids on Outward Bound-style trips. How’s that for a surprising leading man? And his choice of lawyers was a non-sexual “Crying Game.” You’re expecting some Suby-driving gluten-allergic Chomskyite and out steps Pat Shea, Rhodes Scholar, skier and Clinton’s director of the BLM. “All of the environmental safeguards that we put in were simply thrown out wholesale,” says Shea. An agency that used to protect the land started trying its best to punch holes in it. How weird is it to have Shea defend a BLM saboteur? It’s as if Abe Lincoln came back to defend the Iraqi shoe-thrower.

6. The ending.

With the Monkey Wrench Gang, the best part was when it ended. Meanwhile, DeChristopher did that the Gang didn’t: he won. New Interior Secretary Ken Salazar threw out 77 parcels in the sale, including the ones DeChristopher bid on. You can be pretty sure the attention he brought to the issue had a lot to do with that decision.

That doesn’t mean DeChristopher is off the hook. I talked to him the other day, and he was still worried about prosecution.

If it comes to it, Shea will defend him in court using a Law and Order plotline: the “Choice of Evil” defense. DeChristopher’s choice of evils, he’ll say, was either a) let the environment get ravaged or b) commit fraud. “It’s not used very often,” Shea admits. “It would be a significant uphill battle.” But it could work. These leases were so outrageous, such a giant oil industry reach-around at the expense of Utahns and other human beings that a reasonable jury might see more evil in Bush than in DeChristopher (gee, tough sell). Especially if the jurors like poetry (which Abbey’s book lacked), and have read Terry Tempest Williams writing in the newspaper about the exact same oil and gas leases DeChristopher mucked up. She wrote:
“What is actually being sold is the soul of a nation, one public parcel at a time.”

Reilly Capps is a writer in Telluride, Colorado, who thinks that cheese is made of milk, streets are made of asphalt and climate change is human-caused. His email is reillycapps@gmail.com.

Vital energy bill deserves support

.Utah Rep. Jim Matheson was in a position he never wanted to be: He held a pivotal vote on the House Energy and Commerce Committee as it debated, and passed, a bill to promote clean energy and limit emissions of greenhouse gases. He had to step forward and be counted, do more than give lip service to concerns over global warming and a desire to encourage clean-energy technology and conservation.

But Matheson, with a foot in each camp as always, squandered this opportunity to stand up on these all-important issues and join Congress members seeking solutions. Along with only two other Democrats, he voted no.

Since Republicans on the committee were aligned against the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (only one voted for it), and all the more traditional Democrats supported it, that supposedly left political hybrids like Matheson holding the aces. And Matheson cast his with the GOP.

The act passed 33-25, so this vital bill will move forward to other committees and to the full House without Matheson's support. That's good for the country and, ironically, good for Matheson politically. But disappointing for Utah.

Matheson represents a district with heavily Republican pockets that depend on coal mining and coal-fired power plants where many believe global warming is either a hoax or overblown. By contrast, he claims to embrace climate science and says our dependence on oil must end.

Thursday he faced a day of reckoning. And he picked political expediency over science.

This legislation represents a policy shift from fossil fuel development to renewable energy. Utahns who care about air quality, the looming crisis of global warming, energy independence and Utah's long-term economic health would like to know we have one congressman who shares these concerns. But Matheson chose instead to place coal, oil and gas interests ahead of his constituents' and fear of change ahead of faith in American ingenuity.

Matheson says the target for reducing emissions (a 17 percent reduction below 2005 levels by 2020) is too "aggressive" and new technology may not be developed in time. We disagree. On the contrary, the target, a result of a committee compromise, may not be aggressive enough to mitigate global warming. We agree with him that electrical transmission systems must be updated and corn-based ethanol should be dumped. But these are not reasons enough to vote against the bill.

In the end, Matheson, yet again hedging his bets, failed Utah and the country.

When I was in college, a friend of mine who was studying physics told me about an interesting theory. It posited that if you dropped an infinite number of eggs off a two-story building, ultimately one of those eggs would not only not shatter on impact but would actually bounce back to the point from which it was dropped. When I asked him where he would get an infinite number of eggs, he supposed from an infinite number of chickens. When I then asked him what came first, the infinite chickens or the infinite eggs, my friend looked like he wanted to drop me off a second story ledge.

I mention this story to underscore my own benign sense of skepticism about pretty much everything. This isn’t something I readily came to, this realization about my own doubt. And for all my resignation over my stance, I still want to believe. But in the absence of the ability to move myself to action, I’m relegated to my routines and habits and the ruts they form. In those moments, change seems impossible. I conform to the image of the person I perceive myself to be despite my need for something essential. For that most intimate form of human revolution: the personal revolution waiting to be declared.

But for me, that is a concept drained of all meaning. The revolution indeed won’t be televised if only because it’s not going to happen. And every day becomes nothing more than a two-story drop off an edifice that bears my own name.

Unless and until…

Last December, I received an e-mail soliciting money for a young man who, in an act of civil disobedience, infiltrated a government auction of gas and oil leases in Utah. His name is Tim DeChristopher. Tim is a 27-year-old college student. On the day in question, he was taking part in a protest of the aforementioned sale, an event that various environmental groups recognized for what it was—the Bush administration’s version of a Blue Light Special in aisle six. (For those of you who haven’t been to a K-Mart in awhile, apparently aisle six is where oil and gas are stored, beneath Natural Treasures that we bestow with the title “National Park.”)

When Tim arrived at the march, the mood was one of grudging acceptance. The protesters were no more than countless eggs, being dropped from a height guaranteed to dictate a messy and inevitable conclusion. After years of activism on behalf of the environment, Tim had reached that juncture where his feelings intersected with his actions. He saw a gap, and in a flash of inspiration, he decided to fill it by going into the auction.

Once inside, he was asked if he was there to attend the auction, and if so, whether he was going to be a bidder. He answered yes to both questions, was issued a bidder’s paddle, and directed into the auction.

Once there, he noticed that bidding had already commenced. Though he wanted to disrupt the auction, he didn’t know exactly how best to do that. Should he make a speech? Or should he just scream his objection to the events unfolding around him? In that instant of not knowing what to do, Tim was just another egg, hurtling through space toward the ground, awaiting a foregone conclusion.

Wielding his bidder’s paddle, he began bidding on land, driving up the price on numerous plots with a mere flick of his wrist. But that wasn’t enough—he decided it was time to save the land by actually winning the bids. He went on to win 13 plots of land, totaling 22,000 acres, at a cost of $1.8 million. Not surprisingly, he was detained by authorities.

The money that I contributed was to help cover the amount due to the Bureau of Land Management as an initial payment on the land Tim had won. My contribution seemed paltry, so I volunteered my services as a writer on Tim’s behalf. I wrote a post for his website, www.Bidder70.org, but that too felt lacking. So now I am taking steps to align my feelings with my actions.

Though I am painfully aware that none of this feels revolutionary, I endure it because of Tim’s example and what it has taught me. In the past, whenever I thought of revolution, I would envision large masses of people, whipped into a frenzy, committing heroic acts to overthrow that which was wrong and outdated. And the plain truth of the matter is that for that group to exist, individuals must undergo their own personal revolution, one egg at a time.

Tim threw himself off a second story ledge that day he bid on those parcels of land, much like he had been doing every time he acted on behalf of the environment. But this time he did it to save pristine red rock desert for generations to come. This time he did it to align his feelings with his actions. And in so doing, Tim didn’t shatter. He bounced back. Tim became the Infinite Egg.

Since then, the Department of the Interior has voided the leases sold in the auction in question. Despite that fact, by the time you read this, Tim will have faced indictment. Speaking with him recently, I know his own revolution is ongoing and that it has sparked even more upheaval as forces gather to support him and his efforts. Despite the myriad ways people have endorsed his actions, Tim’s biggest hope is that he will spur others to their own revolution.

In a small way, I hope this piece is a step in that direction for us all. Studying Tim’s example, I finally understand that until we embrace our need for personal revolution and unless we are willing to align that need with real action, we're all just another egg, waiting for a bounce that we haven’t yet earned.

For information on Tim DeChristopher, go to www.Bidder70.org. Michael Raysses is a writer/actor/National Public Radio commentator living in Los Angeles. E-mail him at MichaelRaysses@hotmail.com.

When I was in college, a friend of mine who was studying physics told me about an interesting theory. It posited that if you dropped an infinite number of eggs off a two-story building, ultimately one of those eggs would not only not shatter on impact but would actually bounce back to the point from which it was dropped. When I asked him where he would get an infinite number of eggs, he supposed from an infinite number of chickens. When I then asked him what came first, the infinite chickens or the infinite eggs, my friend looked like he wanted to drop me off a second story ledge.

I mention this story to underscore my own benign sense of skepticism about pretty much everything. This isn’t something I readily came to, this realization about my own doubt. And for all my resignation over my stance, I still want to believe. But in the absence of the ability to move myself to action, I’m relegated to my routines and habits and the ruts they form. In those moments, change seems impossible. I conform to the image of the person I perceive myself to be despite my need for something essential. For that most intimate form of human revolution: the personal revolution waiting to be declared.

But for me, that is a concept drained of all meaning. The revolution indeed won’t be televised if only because it’s not going to happen. And every day becomes nothing more than a two-story drop off an edifice that bears my own name. Unless and until…

Last December I received an e-mail soliciting money for a young man who, in an act of civil disobedience, infiltrated a government auction of gas and oil leases in Utah. His name is Tim DeChristopher. Tim is a 27-year-old college student. On the day in question, he was taking part in a protest of the aforementioned sale, an event that various environmental groups recognized for what it was—the Bush administration’s version of a Blue Light Special in aisle six. (For those of you who haven’t been in a K-Mart in awhile, apparently aisle six is where oil and gas are stored, beneath Natural Treasures that we bestow with the title “National Park.”)

When Tim arrived at the march, the mood was one of grudging acceptance. The protesters were no more than countless eggs, being dropped from a height guaranteed to dictate a messy and inevitable conclusion. After years of activism on behalf of the environment, Tim had reached that juncture where his feelings intersected with his actions. He saw a gap, and in a flash of inspiration, he decided to fill it by going into the auction.

Once inside, he was asked if he was there to attend the auction, and if so, whether he was going to be a bidder. He answered yes to both questions, was issued a bidder’s paddle, and directed into the auction.

Once there, he noticed that bidding had already commenced. Though he wanted to disrupt the auction, he didn’t know exactly how best to do that. Should he make a speech? Or should he just scream his objection to the events unfolding around him? In that instant of not knowing what to do, Tim was just another egg, hurtling through space toward the ground, awaiting a foregone conclusion.

Wielding his bidder’s paddle, he began bidding on land, driving up the price on numerous plots with a mere flick of his wrist. But that wasn’t enough—he decided it was time to save the land by actually winning the bids. He went on to win 13 plots of land, totaling 22,000 acres, at a cost of $1.8 million. Not surprisingly, he was detained by authorities.

The money that I contributed was to help cover the amount due to the Bureau of Land Management as an initial payment on the land Tim had won. My contribution seemed paltry, so I volunteered my services as a writer on Tim’s behalf. I wrote a post for his website, www.Bidder70.org, but that too felt lacking. So now I am taking steps to align my feelings with my actions.

Though I am painfully aware that none of this feels revolutionary, I endure it because of Tim’s example and what it has taught me. In the past whenever I thought of revolution, I would envision large masses of people whipped into a frenzy committing heroic acts to overthrow that which was wrong and outdated. And the plain truth of the matter is that for that group to exist, individuals must undergo their own personal revolution, one egg at a time.

Tim threw himself off a second story that day he bid on those parcels of land, much like he had been doing every time he acted on behalf of the environment. But this time he did it to save pristine red rock desert for generations to come. This time he did it to align his feelings with his actions. And in so doing, Tim didn’t shatter. He bounced back. Tim became the Infinite Egg.

Since then, the Department of the Interior has voided the leases sold in the auction in question. Despite that fact, by the time you read this Tim will have faced indictment. Speaking with him recently, I know his own revolution is ongoing and that it has sparked even more upheaval as forces gather to support him and his efforts. Despite the myriad ways people have endorsed his actions, Tim’s biggest hope is that he will spur others to their own revolution.

In a small way, I hope this piece is a step in that direction for me. Studying Tim’s example, I finally understand that until I embrace my need for personal revolution and unless I am willing to align that need with real action, I too am just another egg, waiting for a bounce that I haven’t yet earned.

Michael Raysses is a writer/actor/National Public Radio commentator living in Los Angeles. E-mail him at MichaelRaysses@hotmail.com. For information on Tim DeChristopher, go to www.Bidder70.org. Tim will be arraigned on Tuesday April 28, at 11:am in Salt Lake City. He faces up to ten years in Prison. Former Director of NASA Dr. James Hansen will testify on Tim's behalf.

Tim DeChristopher's arraignment on federal felony charges is on April 28th. He faces a possible 10 years in prison for his actions to disrupt the faudulent BLM oil and gas auction last December.

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Tim DeChristopher Indictment, US Attorney Brett Tolman - Free Legal Forms

On December 19th, 2008 I took what I considered to be ethical, necessary, and direct action to try to protect our planet, our democracy, and my fellow human beings.  In that spirit of protection, I took nonviolent action which did not harm anyone nor destroy any property.
 
My actions stopped what I believed was an illegal and certainly unethical auction of red rock public lands in Southern Utah.  This auction was a fraud and a threat against the American people and their future well-being.  My motivation to act against this auction came solely from the exploitation of public lands, the lack of a transparent and participatory government, and the imminent danger of climate change.
 
I acted openly and honestly because I was then, and still am ready today, to accept and suffer the consequences of my actions.  I had hoped the wheels of justice, particularly with a new Administration, would recognize the impetus of my actions and the merit of their results, by choosing not prosecute me, especially in light of the leases in question being voided by the new Administration.  You can well imagine my shock and disappointment to find out that my hopes were misguided, and my future may well rest in the hands of a jury of my peers.

I have been gifted with a proven legal team, spearheaded by the efforts of Ron Yengich and Pat Shea.  In a matter which will undoubtedly go to trial, they will have a chance to demonstrate the corruption of a system that “awards” oil and gas leases to the highest bidders, while the public and the environment are without any legitimate competing representation, thus consigning them to the catastrophic effects of climate change.  This trial will be an opportunity to address our moral imperative to craft and defend a livable future for our children.

It is my deepest hope that my actions will be understood by others in the context in which they were forced to play out, and that those people who come to know what has befallen me here is the direct result of the corrosive manipulation that grips our system by the throat, choking off the oxygen of free and fair choice our democracy requires.  

I am profoundly grateful for the the enormous support which I have already received, and I have every belief it will continue in the future.  As my initial actions taught me, it is still possible to work for change, real change.  I know I don't stand alone in that belief or in the fight that is gathering even as I type these words.  And as my actions inspire others to work for change of all stripes, any consequences I have to face will be well worth it.

Tim DeChristopher

Something happened on November 4, 2008; the results of which set in motion actions that are still trying to be comprehended, analyzed, and sorted out in the legal arena.No, it’s not the election for the Minnesota senate seat (but good guess).It’s regarding the Bush administration’s plan to have Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lease the oil and gas drilling rights for select lands in Utah.In my mind, this was the Bush administration’s last attempt at 11^th hour environmental regulation.Knowing that Obama’s victory in the general election was all but certain (assuming that Bush reads 538 and subscribes to Nate Silver’s logic), the administration wanted to leave one last gift to their friends in the oil and gas businesses.What has transpired since has only been civil disobedience and lawsuits.

On December 19^th, the BLM put 131 parcels of land up for sale.One of the bidders was a University of Utah student named Tim DeChristopher.DeChristopher proceeded to make a few bids in order to drive up the final costs for the victorious energy company.Then he changed his bidding strategy and before he was kicked out of the auction by the BLM he won 12 parcels of land; totaling 22,000 acres at a price tag of $1.7 million.He did so without initially intending to pay for the land; it was just an effort to thwart the attempts of the BLM to give away the drilling rights.Then something happened; like all good acts of defiance, this was picked up by the media and soon DeChristopher had a following.A following that was willing to donate in order to help him with the down payment for the lands he had won.Now he has his down payment money, but the BLM might not be accepting it.It all depends on the lawsuits.

Environmental groups sued to try to block the sale of the Utah BLM lands – obviously they still went on sale.After DeChristopher allegedly defrauded the BLM by bidding at their auction, the BLM is threatening to sue DeChristopher.However, there may not be any lawsuit against DeChristopher because the auction itself may not have been legal.On January 17^th, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the BLM sale.Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the Federal District Court in Washington ruled that shortcuts taken by the BLM in order to rush the auction of the land caused them to ignore certain EPA measures that are required by law (oops!).With the sale of the BLM parcels blocked indefinitely by the ruling, there is a chance that the leasing of oil and gas rights might ultimately fail.

With the fate of the BLM lands in the hands of the federal courts, it may be a while before an outcome is known.This gives us time to evaluate the situation in more detail and take a look at why this happened.

National Parks and National Monuments have seen a decline in visitation over recent years.However, despite this decline, outdoor recreation has, as a whole, increased.Where are these people going for their outdoor recreation?Why, the BLM lands, of course.BLM lands offer multi-use opportunities, fewer restrictions on activities, greater prospects for solitude, and all of this occurs in a fee-free environment.With the average Joe civilian heading to BLM lands for their recreation, why did the Bush administration feel that they needed to displace these people for drilling fields?

It’s because the intrinsic value of the recreation is not being calculated.Capitalistic minds cannot comprehend the fact that the value of some things cannot be calculated by a simple equation.The money that would be extracted by the drilling of the BLM land may be able to increase the stockholder’s value at some companies, but at what cost?What dollar value do we place on the enjoyment of recreation on these lands?What dollar value should be assigned to the destruction of land that is considered holy to an Indian Nation (haven’t we persecuted the Native American race enough?)?What about our future generations?Do they not have the right to enjoy these lands once they are born?What DeChristopher did was take these concerns into the auction, thus adding intrinsic value to the equation.

DeChristopher’s perceived value of BLM lands remaining untouched by the drill bit was far greater than the value oil companies placed on the lands.This is why he was able to bid on – and win – multiple parcels of land.The counterargument is that he did not have the money - nor did he initially intend to pay - for the parcels he won.This only helps highlight the intrinsic value he places on the land.DeChristopher was willing to risk spending years in prison to place those bids. That is how much he valued the land. That is how strong his conviction was for this cause.

In order to have the legal right to release pollutants such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a company must purchase a permit to pollute from the government.The government caps the amount of permits to restrict the overall level of pollution released into the atmosphere.Environmental groups (or individuals) can purchase permits from the government, then simply not use the permit.This philosophy/governmental regulation should be applied to the leasing rights of land as well. This would give environmental groups or people like DeChristopher the opportunity to see how their intrinsic value of the land compares to the oil and gas companies perceived value.

I believe we have a responsibility to make our world a better place, and a good place to start is in our own backyard.  Pete Seeger, a personal hero of mine, says, “Learning how to do something in your hometown is the most important thing. … If there’s a world here in a hundred years, it’s going to be saved by tens of millions of little things.”
Sing it Pete! 

Now more than ever, we have a chance to change our lives and our world.  Tim DeChristopher did just that when he staged a shakedown at the BLM auction, and woke the environmental movement from a long slumber.

I was at Tim's house taking photos, when his roommate asked,
“Does she know about the basement?” 
“Oh yeah,” Tim said turning to me, “you should see this.”
He led me downstairs, through a door disguised as a bookshelf, down another flight of stairs and into an unfinished concrete room designed like a prohibition-style speakeasy bar.  There were antique bottles of Grand Marnier lined up on a shelf, brown velvet theater curtains draped around tarnished mirrors, and a stage for live music in one corner.  It was large enough to hold a good 50-75 people, almost larger than the whole upstairs.  Even more bizarre, it was constructed out of parts salvaged from airplanes, and not many people really know it exists.  Tim didn’t know about it until after he signed the lease.  His dog Bernie refuses to go down there, which tells me the room has a lot to say, the kind of stuff only dogs can pick up on. 
The secret basement is kind of like Tim himself—surprising and intriguing.

I met Tim last fall in a class at the University of Utah.  I remember him as reserved and unassuming, but when he had something to say, it cut straight to the point like a well-sharpened blade.  Poignant, articulate, you could tell he was thinking, and that he believed what he said.  This kind of conviction is a rare trait in U students. I gained a certain respect for Tim, but I definitely did not expect him to do what he did next.

On December 19, Tim walked into the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Salt Lake City, and disrupted an auction of 149,000 acres of Utah’s most pristine land to oil and gas developers. He registered himself as a bidder, and won 10 parcels of land for a total of $1.8 million, none of which he intended to pay.

Now the BLM and the federal government are scrambling. No one has ever done this before, and it is not clear what should happen next.   The auction was an attempt by the Bush administration to expedite energy development that Obama’s administration has openly discouraged.  On the weekend of January 18, 2009, a federal judge suspended the lease of the land involved in the auction. As for Tim’s fate, the US Attorney’s office is conducting an investigation, and official charges have yet to be released.  It is speculated that Tim could face felony charges and time in prison.

In the meantime, the story has spread like wildfire throughout the country and across the world. People are ignited by what Tim did.  Some are antagonized, others are inspired, but everyone can feel the heat.  Tim has given interviews for MSNBC, CBS, NPR, Democracy Now, and newspapers like the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.  Donations have poured in to help him pay for the land he won, and for his legal defense fund.

Gauging the response, it seems people are hungry for change.  Within the environmental movement, some feel that organizations like SUWA have long been ineffective at protecting and defending Utah lands.  Tim’s action was immediate and biting, and exactly what the environmental movement needed to wake up from its stupor. 

Tim never expected to receive so much support and recognition, and he is prepared to go to prison.   So why did he do it?  How did he decide to raise his paddle, and in turn raise hell?  Steven Pinker recently wrote in a New York Times article,” None of us know what made us what we are, and when we have to say something, we make up a good story.”

Tim says his story starts when he was born, the same year Reagan took office and convinced the American public not to mess with the power of government.  Since that time, and in contrast to past eras of social upheaval, Tim believes we have been afraid to challenge authority.  Despite a prevailing climate of complacency, Tim’s parents instilled in him an acute sense of environmental justice. He followed his parents to anti-coal rallies in his home state of Virginia, and saw his mother found the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club.

As a young adult he moved to Arizona for school, where he explored the desert and was transformed by the landscape.

“I remember the sense I had at the time was that it made me feel very small, and it was a really good feeling.  I‘ve gotten used to feeling much smaller and appreciating how big the world is, and it’s had an impact on the way I think.  Enough time staring at a distant horizon, makes us think big thoughts.”

Settling in Utah, Tim worked with local environmental organizations like the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to protect and defend the land that had had such an impact on him.  He wrote letters, signed petitions, and did trail work in national parks.  It never seemed to make enough of a difference.  The federal government and the BLM are perpetually exploiting Utah’s most beautiful land to produce dirty energy, which contributes to the devastating effects of climate change. 
At the Wallace Stegner Symposium, Tim spoke with Terry Root from the International Panel on Climate Change, who told him it was too late to prevent climate change. It weighed heavy on Tim’s shoulders.

During fall of 2008, Tim took a class at the University of Utah about the history of American social movements, and became convinced that more drastic action would have to be taken if we wanted to protect Utah lands and mediate the effects of climate change.  Historical examples showed that confrontational tactics like civil disobedience could be successful in achieving certain goals. 

But Tim realized that the tactics used in even the most successful social movements of our time—civil rights, antiwar, women’s suffrage—would be ineffective in the case of global warming. 
 

“If the environmental movement is as successful at stopping climate change as the civil rights movement was at ending racism,” Tim believes, “then we will fail to have a livable future.”

Tim hoped that someone else would orchestrate the drastic action he knew was necessary.  It was scary to imagine taking that responsibility upon himself.

But when he went to the BLM office to protest the auction, he decided he was the one that had to do it.  There were 120 people outside the office, marching and holding signs, and it occurred to him, “..In the face of such a fraudulent auction, I had to do something more.”  So he went inside, registered as a bidder, and joined the auction. 
 
Here, reader, we reach the point of no return. Most activists can identify the particular moment when they committed themselves to their cause, and from that point on, their lives were never the same.
For Tim, it was a moral dilemma. He saw the opportunity to make an impact, but it meant possibly going to prison.  He asked himself, “Can I live with that?” and he thought, “Yes I can.” But he could not live knowing he had lost a chance to act. 

He bid on as much land as possible, driving up the prices for other bidders.  Then, he took it a step further and started winning land.
The fear and reticence he experienced up to this point were overcome by a sense of purpose. Tim remembers,

“I was nervous while I was trying to make that decision of what path I should choose and I was nervous when I was driving up the cost for others, and I was kind of having one foot in and one foot out.  Once I made the decision to start buying up parcels and I was all the way in, I knew there was no turning back, and I had a tremendous sense of calm come over me at that time.  And in fact, one of the BLM agents who was watching me said later that he saw a change in my face and a change in my body posture at that time.  Because I had accepted it, I had accepted the role I had to play there, and was willing to deal with that.”

While Tim waits for charges to be released, he continues to garner support for the environmental movement.  Giving countless speeches and interviews, he is encouraging people to take responsibility for their future. It might require sacrifice, but when the risk of not doing something is so large, the sacrifice is comparatively small.  If we don’t do it, who will?





















































 



















 

A federal judge on Monday is due to rule on a lawsuit filed by environmental groups to nullify the lease sales. But DeChristopher and his supporters hope that, should that last-ditch legal effort fail, the money he's raised will delay a final decision on the fate of the parcels he bid on until the inauguration of Barack Obama, whose aides have criticized how the current administration fast-tracked the auction.

"I had really prepared myself for the worst. I was thinking three to five years in prison, that's what I'm looking at," DeChristopher said in an interview last week. "Now things are looking more positive. The fate of that land will either be decided by me or by the Obama administration."

A BLM spokeswoman said DeChristopher's offer of payment was too little, too late. Mary Wilson said he owed $81,000 on the day of the sale and significantly more by Jan. 6. "Since he made up his rules for the auction," she said, "he's making up his rules on how to pay for it."

The agency hasn't decided whether the parcels legally belong to DeChristopher. That will be determined by an investigation by the agency and the U.S. attorney's office here. Until that probe is concluded, DeChristopher's legal status and that of the parcels he bid for are in limbo.

Regardless of the outcome, the soft-spoken DeChristopher has become a sudden celebrity on the environmental circuit. He spent a weekend at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada County, Calif., courtesy of the event's organizers.

"The guy just showed incredible chutzpah," said Dan Hamburg, a former U.S. congressman from Northern California who is executive director of Voice of the Environment, which donated $5,000 to DeChristopher. "I hope he's inspired a lot of other people to take similar action."

But Kathleen Sgamma, an official with the Independent Petroleum Assn. of Mountain States, said DeChristopher should be prosecuted if BLM determined he acted illegally.

"He is costing the state of Utah a lot of money," Sgamma said.

DeChristopher's gambit caps the recent battle over the energy-rich red rock canyons of southern Utah. The Bush administration has long sought to open the area to more drilling.

On Nov. 4, administration officials announced that they would auction off hundreds of thousands of acres, some abutting popular national parks including Arches and Canyonlands, at a Dec. 19 auction. The BLM did not consult with the National Park Service, as it usually does.

Environmentalists accused the Bush administration of trying to rush through a sale before it left office. The BLM scaled down the sale, dropping a parcel that was under a golf course in the town of Moab and others directly adjacent to national parks. Still, when bidders gathered in Salt Lake City, 131 parcels were for sale.

DeChristopher had an economics exam at the University of Utah that morning. The final question was whether the prices paid at the auction would represent the true cost of energy exploration. The answer, he wrote, was no: They would not take into account the environmental and public health effects of fossil fuels. Then he went to the BLM office to join the picket line.

The scene "was like a funeral march," DeChristopher said.

He decided to enter the building, hoping to disrupt the proceedings. An official inside asked him whether he was there for the auction. Why, yes, DeChristopher responded. Are you a bidder? she asked.

Yes, DeChristopher said.

He was handed a small laminated card with No. 70 on it and ushered into the auction room. After making a few bids to drive up the energy companies' costs, he decided to bid for as many parcels as he could.

"I sat there watching one parcel after another going into the hands of oil developers, and I knew the land would be pretty much ruined," he said. "I got to the point where I couldn't sit there and watch anymore."

He got to 12 parcels before BLM officers ushered him into a rear room for questioning. BLM officials said that when DeChristopher had identified himself as a bidder, he signed a form vowing to pay all necessary fees that day. He said he had no intent to pay. They ejected him from the building, and the bidding resumed.

Afterward, DeChristopher was flooded with encouraging e-mails from as far as Norway. The head of the BLM under President Clinton, Pat Shea, offered to act as his attorney. Environmentalists took up his cause on Facebook.

A Moab-based group is administering the donations. The figure of $45,000 is what BLM officials told him he owed when they detained him.

DeChristopher, who shares a rented house with several roommates, is banking on a summer job with an environmental group to pay his bill.

"I didn't think there was any way they could get $45,000 out of me," he said with a chuckle.

Tim DeChristopher moved from Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City to study economics at the University of Utah and to enjoy the wild beauty.

"There are a lot of scenes that make your jaw drop," he says. "It's not like any other place in the world."

But where DeChristopher sees beauty, others see bounty. When one of the last-minute acts of the Bush administration was to auction off some of this land for oil drilling, the 27-year-old student said he had to act. Joining protestors again was not enough.

So, after his final exam, he went to the auction and talked his way in, "and they said, 'Are you here to be a bidder?' and I said, 'Why yes, I am.'"

He first thought to disrupt it with shouts of protest, then on the spot, came up with a more disruptive plan. He bid on the oil leases, bidding prices way up on some parcels and outright winning bids on 22,000 acres for US$1.7 million, which he neither had the means nor any intention of paying.

It threw the auction into chaos.

"It cost us potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars," said one bidder.

"He defrauded the government, he defrauded the public by going in and bidding on these parcels," said another.

Environmentalists hauled out the big guns to shoot down the Utah land auction.

The fact that they are shoving this in at the last moment as they're going out the door is typical of the last eight years," says actor and environmentalist Robert Redford.

But what the environmentalists could not do, DeChristopher did. And under the Obama administration, the land will likely not go on the auction block again.

"I suppose that is one of the reasons I started studying economics," says DeChristopher. "If we want to effect change, we have to use the economic tools to do it."

He is now the darling of many environmentalists. A website raising money for the leases he bought has pulled in $45,000.

But it is too little, too late. DeChristopher could face fraud charges in federal court.

"Prison is a scary place, but I knew that going into this," he says.

But if that is the price, he says he is willing to pay it.

A bid to sell off more than 100,000 acres of land near national parks in Utah for oil and gas drilling was halted by a federal judge at the weekend.

The ruling, in response to a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups, suspends the sale of 77 parcels of land at an auction held in December.

The auction was seen by activists as an attempt by the outgoing Bush administration to deliver a last-minute gift to its allies in the oil and gas industry.

The sale on December 19 in Salt Lake City drew attention after an activist managed to successfully bid at the auction for 12 parcels of land totalling 22,000 acres. Although the activist, Tim DeChristopher, had no money, he bid $1.79m. The government agency selling the land, the Bureau of Land Management, had threatened to sue him for bidding without cash in hand; DeChristopher said he had raised the necessary $45,000 from supporters to make the first down payment.

"This order stops the Bush bulldozers in their tracks," said Sandra Buccino, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defence Council, one of the groups to bring the suit. "This is a win for two reasons. It preserves the land in question and it forces the BLM to do a more thorough job in protecting nature ... As a result of the judge's decision this will be a mess left on Obama's doorstep."

The BLM announced the sale of 164,000 acres for oil and gas drilling on December 12. But Judge Ricardo Urbina agreed with the plaintiffs that the agency had not carried out sufficient study of the impact of drilling near the Arches and Canyonlands national parks and the Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah close to the border with Colorado.

In his order the judge recognised the importance of developing energy sources, but agreed with the plaintiffs that further study was needed to assess the potential impact on air quality and the possibility of permanent damage to public lands. The ruling instructs the agency to postpone issuing leases for the parcels sold last month until the judge can later rule on the merits of the case.

Stephen Bloch, conservation director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said: "We're thrilled with this decision. BLM's attempt to sell these leases just before the Bush administration left office has been showcased for what it really is - a parting gift to the oil and gas industry."

In a brazen affront to the Bush administration's continuing assaults on the environment which seem to escalate in intensity as the administration goes into the final throes of death, a few weeks ago Tim DeChristopher in an act of administrative civil disobedience courageously disrupted the auction of some of the West's spectacularly pristine federally-owned lands in Utah for oil and gas exploration. These leases, which had been in the works for several years, were only recently sent to the responsible BLM official's for immediate action. Sound familiar?

Former BLM (U.S. Bureau of Land Management) head Pat Shea is spearheading Tim's defense. Part one was to raise the intial $45,000 payment on the leases Tim won at the auction. Friday Mr. DeChristopher announced this goal has now been met. The government may or may not accept the payment. As the prosecutor has yet to file charges, it uncertain how aggressive the government will be in prosecuting their case against him. According to Mr. Shea, the prosecution is wrestling with two options; this between the hawks, those who would like to seek the maximum sentence and attempt to make an example of Mr. DeChristopher (with the strong support of the established energy interests), and the doves, (especially the BLM) who are somewhat sympathetic to Tim's position and would prefer to see his sentence in the form of community service, assisting with EIS studies (Environmental Impact Statements) for example.

Noticeably lacking has been any show of support for Tim from established environmental organizations. Tim observed, "how much big enviros are uncomfortable with grass roots and do not support it. Their position is to let the professionals handle this (they being the professionals). A key part of their model is for us to allow them to lead and when all of us do these actions it seems to threaten them". In fact some such as the Sierra Club, actively oppose grass roots actions and protest.

For several years now, there has been a growing dissatisfaction with traditional environmental organizations such as The Sierra Club, World Wildlife Federation, Oxfam, and The Natural Resources Defense Council to name a few of the more prominent ones. The entire environmental movement has come under increasing fire for what many see as a broad based failure to provide greater changes in human activity which is known to have negative consequences for the global environment and life support systems of the planet. Deforestation, chemical pollution in the world's oceans, biological diversity, species extinction, and greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase at ever more alarming rates with increasingly serious impacts, all of which are detrimental to life on Earth as we know it. While the threats to the Earth's ecosystem accelerate and feedback mechanisms and climate forcing mechanisms kick in far sooner than even worse-case scenarios forecast even twelve months ago, very little has been accomplished to stabilize much less reverse anthropogenic causes of environmental degradation. Established environmental groups and NGOs while working with both the government and private sectors have made some significant achievements yet they have proven themselves to be unable to bring about the large scale pivotal sea changes in government, industry, and culture necessary to effectively address these issues and it is global warming which has become the signal event. Consequently, the debate has shifted from which organization to support to how to achieve real change in a system which has proven so effective at protecting vested interests and neutralizing opposition.

Al Gore, James Hansen, Pat Shea, and numerous others have all issued the call for vastly increased peaceful civil disobedience to force real change in government and corporate environmental policy. Mr. DeChristopher is the most recent to answer the call and has inspired people across the globe by his courage and tenacity. To voice your support for Tim DeChristopher or assist with his legal defense go to Bidder70.org .

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January 9, 2009

To Everyone,

      I’m excited and thankful. We have reached our initial goal of raising $45,000 for the first payment on the 22,500 acres I “won” at the BLM auction on December 19th.  Most of our donations came in $10 or $20 increments from thousands who gave whatever they could during this hard economic time.  
    
     I deeply appreciate and touched more than I can express with the generosity of all those who have contributed to our goal.  It is very encouraging for me to see how many others value the land, the climate and a participatory democracy as much as I do.  This has been a reminder for me that when you stand for what is right, you never stand alone.  I hope that all these partners continue to stand with me in our fight for a livable future.  
    
    My legal team and I are now prepared to make the first payment.  We are waiting for confirmation from the BLM and US Attorney’s office that they will accept the payment.  As I have said before, it is unclear to me how the BLM or the new administration will proceed in my case.  In the event that my payment is refused and the parcels are going to be put up for auction again, the money given to my Lease Fund will be used to acquire these parcels in the new auction.  I think that together we value this land and the climate more than oil companies value the oil in those rocks so we should be able to demonstrate that in any future auction.
    
    The other possibility is that my payment is refused and the parcels I "won" are not put up for auction again because the new administration realizes their real value.  In this event, I will contact the donors and ask them whether the money should be returned, used for my defense fund, or given to another active environmental cause.  There has been much uncertainty in this process, and I deeply appreciate the trust shown by those who have given despite that uncertainty.  I will try to keep my supporters as informed as possible and respect their input.
    
    We are continuing to receive donations for my legal research, defense and for possible future payments which may be required on the leases.  As always, I urge those who support me and my actions to join me in standing up for our future.  Please join the Capitol Climate Action in Washington DC on March 2nd, and constantly seek your own opportunities to create change.  Remain open to the reality that you are not helpless and the possibility that you may be your own best hope for your future.

Tim
www.bidder70.org

Tim DeChristopher looks for donation to prevent drilling

By REILLY CAPPS
Writer

The oil and gas bandit Tim DeChristopher, who waltzed into a lease auction in Salt Lake and bought himself 22,500 acres of drilling rights with no intention of ever paying for them, has a new plan:

If he can make a down payment on the leases, he might be able to stall, protecting the land until a new presidential administration changes the nation’s policy on oil and gas drilling.

The environmentalist, a 27-year-old economics student at the University of Utah, needs $45,000 by Friday. Yesterday, he stood $7,000 short.

It’s not clear that this security payment will keep him out of prison, says his lawyer, Patrick Shea, who was the head of the BLM under President Clinton. It’s not clear whether the BLM would accept the money, since DeChristopher has admitted he has no plans to drill.
 

Oil and gas leases are a hot topic around the West. Proponents say they bring jobs and wean us off foreign oil. Opponents say rigs destroy the environment, and that the Bush Administration has pushed through leases in sensitive areas in a huge “gift” to the oil and gas industry.

Yesterday, the San Miguel County Commissioners confronted the Forest Service about an upcoming action that will lease land all over San Miguel County. (See the story in Thursday’s Planet.)

DeChristopher ended up buying land near Arches National Park, land often visited by Telluriders.

But when DeChristopher walked into that Bureau of Land Management auction, he had no plan whatsoever.

DeChristopher, an environmental activist who’d protested, written letters and spoken to his congressman, had been at the protest outside the building — about 200 people strong — when a thought hit him.

“This auction is such an injustice to my future,” he thought, “that you have to object to it more strongly than just holding a sign outside.”

So he headed inside. He though maybe he’d stand up and make a scene, yell about democracy and the earth, make them kick him out.

Instead, he pulled off one of the most effective environmental protests in recent memory, one that has blogs praising him as a peaceful, modern-day Monkey Wrencher, after the novel by Edward Abbey.

It was shockingly easy, DeChristopher says.

Because the BLM so rushed this auction, he says, it didn’t have time to screen the bidders. So even though he was a young man in Carharts among old men in business attire, the officials asked if he was a bidder. He said “yes.” Then he quietly sat down with a bidder’s paddle in his hand. As the bids came up, he calmly raised his paddle, artificially jacking up the prices on other people’s parcels (thinking “Wow, I just cost them an extra $75,000”).

“I had the sense that this land was slipping away,” DeChristopher says.

So then, raising his paddle, he took a Babe Ruth swing at the Bush Administration’s energy policies, bought 13 leases for $1.8 million, and, at least from an environmentalist point of view, hit one out of the park.

Charges have yet to be filed. For now, all DeChristopher has had to endure is some public scorn: For example, a letter writer to the Salt Lake Tribune asked the BLM to “throw the book at this clown,” and the Grand Junction Sentinel, in an editorial, called him “arrogant and thoughtless.”

(Thoughtless? In our 45-minute interview, he cited Henry David Thoreau, Tom Hayden of the Chicago Eight, Edward Abbey, even Etienne de la Boetie from the Wayback Machine.)

Far more people have written that DeChristopher is a hero, and donated to his cause at www.bidder70.org.

“He’s a little bit of a Saint George to me,” says Moab resident Damian Nash. “I really am grateful for Tim to be able to walk into the jaws of the dragon.”

Nash calls DeChristopher a patriot, and compared his actions to Gandhi and MLK. Nash hikes the land DeChristopher bought, and he says he can’t bear to see roads built into these roadless areas.

“They’re just incredible,” Nash says. “Unbelievably beautiful lands.”

If charges are filed, DeChristopher’s lawyer says, he might employ an unusual legal tactic known as the “choice of evil” defense.

For DeChristopher, his lawyer says, his choice was between committing fraud and allowing parts of Utah to be destroyed while releasing more carbon into the air.

“It would be a significant uphill battle,” Shea admits.

Shea, now a science advisor to the University of Utah, is representing DeChristopher for free, partly because he’s appalled at how the Bush Administration has run the BLM, leasing more acreage to oil and gas than the Clinton Administration ever did, and doing so more recklessly.

“All of the environmental safeguards that we put in were simply thrown out wholesale,” Shea says. “The adage of ‘drill baby drill’ probably started with the BLM under Bush.”

Email: reilly@telluridedailyplanet.com. Phone: 728-9788 ext. 11.

The question remains whether he is an agent of neocon Darwinism in its latest incarnation or some rogue strain of sleeper cell, bent on wreaking havoc on the body politic he was supposedly serving when he was doing bad impersonations of Henry David Thoreau.
 

The Bush administration's most enduring mark on the American West may well be the tens of millions of acres of public lands it has handed over to the oil and gas industry -- and the belated backlash the giveaway has spawned.

As if to punctuate this legacy, the Bureau of Land Management -- which oversees mineral rights on public lands -- held its most contentious gas lease sale Dec. 19, making available some 150,000 acres of Utah's magnificent redrock canyon country near Arches and Canyonlands national parks.

In the weeks before the sale, the BLM fielded protests from conservation groups, the National Park Service and even Robert Redford. The agency eventually pulled some parcels, but as it has since 2002, when the White House ordered the BLM to push gas drilling as its highest priority, the agency proceeded with a controversial sale.

This time, however, a monkey wrench gummed up the works. Posing as a legitimate industry bidder, 27-year-old University of Utah student Tim DeChristopher bid nearly $1.8 million for 13 lease parcels totaling 22,000 acres. He also managed to drive up other bids by about $500,000, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The BLM, which escorted DeChristopher out of the room once it figured out what was going on, says it may redo the auction. Meanwhile, contributions to DeChristopher have poured in, and now he says he hopes to write a $45,000 check to the BLM to hang on to the leases he won. One of his lawyers, interestingly, is former BLM Director Pat Shea.

DeChristopher, who has become a hero to environmentalists, said he was frustrated over the inability of mainstream groups to slow the leasing frenzy: "I don't ever want to have to look back at 2008, and know that there was still a slight chance that we could have done something to make a difference, and I didn't take that chance."

The media ate up his act of civil disobedience, but largely failed to appreciate the larger context. Over the past seven years, the BLM has leased to industry 17 million acres in the five major oil- and gas-producing states in the Interior West. Stunned conservationists began fighting back in 2005, with administrative protests and lawsuits, but the BLM has rarely listened.

To be fair, the Bush administration is not the first to open the public lands to industry. Ronald Reagan's Interior Department embraced industrialization of the public domain with zeal. Even the Clinton administration, which won praise for a last-minute move that protected parts of the West as national monuments, leased millions of acres to the oil and gas industry with nary a protest -- though that may have been partly because, as John Leshy, the Interior Department's solicitor from 1993 to 2001, put it, "We tried pretty hard to stay out of controversial areas." The Bush administration has not.

Now, the Obama administration has the chance to rebalance the way our public lands are managed. It can order federal land managers to make gas leasing and development just one aspect of their jobs, along with protecting the land, water and wildlife. And it can keep the drill rigs out of special places such as Utah's canyon country, the top of Colorado's Roan Plateau and New Mexico's Otero Mesa.

It can also expand on one improbable Bush accomplishment. Pushed by requirements in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the BLM has created seven pilot reclamation teams in Western field offices. These folks try to monitor and assist the hundreds of companies operating on the public lands to reduce their environmental footprint during production. Once the wells run dry, it's their job to make sure that industry erases its roads, well pads and waste ponds so that the land looks as it did before the drill crews arrived.

The teams are starting to make a difference, but they are sorely outmatched by the size of the problem and by weak regulations that still allow companies to walk away without cleaning up after themselves. The BLM estimates that it has reclaimed just 15 percent of 109,000 oil and gas wells abandoned over the past 50 years. Add the 80,000 active wells the agency manages, plus the additional 126,000 wells it will likely approve in the next decade, and you begin to see the scope of the problem.

Tightening regulations and repairing damaged lands is not as dramatic as disrupting an ill-conceived lease sale. But it is equally important. Let's hope the Obama administration and committed conservationists tackle both sides of the gas boom in 2009.

Paul Larmer is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (plarmer@hcn.org). He publishes High Country News, which has covered the American West for 40 years.

The downpayment is due on January 9th, a mere $45,000, and on the advice of the legal team working to protect him and keep him out of jail, DeChristopher is trying to raise the money. So far, he's got $18,000 in hand, and a campaign that's gaining steam.

Below is DeChristopher's appeal letter, and the link for making a contribution is here.

As you may have already heard, on December 19th I chose to disrupt the BLM oil and gas auction through an act of civil disobedience by bidding against participating oil & gas companies. I ended up "winning" the leases for 22,500 acres of beautiful land near Moab. You can find more details at www.bidder70.org.

The tremendous support I've received in response to my action was unexpected and utterly inspiring. Hundreds of people have contributed over $10,000 to my legal defense and to the $45,000 bond obligation for the leases. And countless others have expressed their solidarity and support for the long American tradition of meaningful civil disobedience.

In addition to the moving effect on me, this support has also opened up the real possibility of paying off the leases which I "won". The initial payment on this, required to secure the land, is around $45,000. After a good deal of struggling over this choice, I have decided to raise the money to secure the leases. With much advice from my legal team, it has become clear to me that making the down payment on the leases is the best way to protect the land until we can restore open, transparent and democratic procedures for determining the fate of valuable public lands.

It is still unclear how the new administration will deal with this inappropriate auction and the disruption I caused to it, but I can only hope the President Obama follows through on his promise for a transparent government. Until then I will make sure that no drilling or development happens on this land, and for that I need your help. This is an opportunity for all of us to make a clear statement of how much we care for our land, our climate and participatory democracy.

Please donate to help protect these 22,500 acres of wilderness (and reduce the chance of prison for me). Together we can protect this land and show that we are all willing to make the sacrifices necessary for a livable future.

DonatePlease forward this email on to as many people as you can and continue to spread the word of the need for critical action. Thank you for being a part of protecting the future for all of us.

Sincerely, Tim DeChristopher

Technorati Tags: Abbey's country, canyon country, conservation, energy development, enviro action, inspiration, petroleum drilling, red rock, utah, wilderness

Posted by localcrew on January 05, 2009 in Environmental Activism, Miscellaneous, Uncommon Culture | Permalink | del.icio.us | Digg it

     January 1, 2009

     Happy New Year!

          As you may have already heard, on December 19th I chose to disrupt the BLM oil and gas auction through an act of civil disobedience by bidding against participating oil & gas companies. I ended up "winning" the leases for 22,500 acres of beautiful land near Moab. You can find more details at www.bidder70.org.

    The tremendous support I've received in response to my action was unexpected and utterly inspiring. Hundreds of people have contributed over $10,000 to my legal defense and to the $45,000 bond obligation for the leases. And countless others have expressed their solidarity and support for the long American tradition of meaningful civil disobedience.

    In addition to the moving effect on me, this support has also opened up the real possibility of paying off the leases which I "won". The initial payment on this, required to secure the land, is around $45,000. After a good deal of struggling over this choice, I have decided to raise the money to secure the leases. With much advice from my legal team, it has become clear to me that making the down payment on the leases is the best way to protect the land until we can restore open, transparent and democratic procedures for determining the fate of valuable public lands.

     It is still unclear how the new administration will deal with this inappropriate auction and the disruption I caused to it, but I can only hope the President Obama follows through on his promise for a transparent government. Until then I will make sure that no drilling or development happens on this land, and for that I need your help. This is an opportunity for all of us to make a clear statement of how much we care for our land, our climate and participatory democracy.

    Please donate to help protect these 22,500 acres of wilderness (and reduce the chance of prison for me). Together we can protect this land and show that we are all willing to make the sacrifices necessary for a livable future.

    Please forward this email on to as many people as you can and continue to spread the word of the need for critical action. Thank you for being a part of protecting the future for all of us.

    Sincerely,

    Tim DeChristopher

De Christopher is a 27-year-old student at the University of Utah, and one of the many who was greatly concerned about the flash auction of 150,000 acres of public lands in the southern and eastern parts of that extraordinary state being hurriedly put together by Bushco. Being put together a little too quickly, as in a deal with a very bad odor. The head of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance called it “a fire sale, the Bush administration’s last great gift to the oil and gas industry.” Robert Redford, an actor who actually has an informed opinion concerning matters Utahn, said simply, “It’s criminal.”

So there was De Christopher, at the BLM office in Salt Lake City on the morning of Dec. 19, along with about 200 other unhappy folks. He thought about the times he had written letters to congressmen, had protested outside of government offices, and had signed petitions. “What the environmental movement has been doing in the last 20 years hasn’t worked,” he told the Salt Lake City Tribune later. “There comes a time to take a stand.” And then, following a positively inspired hunch, he took one.

He left the protest in front of the BLM office, headed upstairs, and registered to be a part of the auction action. Then, he began to bid. Over the next couple of hours, De Christopher showed that an auction paddle can be a far more effective “monkey-wrenching” tool than a tree spike or sugar in a gas tank. He bid on every parcel, driving up the prices on many, and won 10 for himself, at a total tab of $1.8 million. Finally, the real oil people and BLM staffers began to catch on that they were being hornswaggled by some goofus in a big red parka who sure didn’t look like a Conoco executive. That’s when a couple of cops came over and asked Mr. Big Bidder to come with them into the next room for a bit of a credit check, whereupon De Christopher ’fessed up that he didn’t have any money whatever and no intention of paying for the land that he had just “purchased.” And that’s when the feds realized they had just taken a cream pie to the kisser.

De Christopher’s act has truly gummed up the works. Those 10 parcels where he was the top bid can’t be put back up for auction again until February. By then, the president will be Mr. Obama, and members of his transition team have already stated that this thing in Utah is a complete fiasco. Tim may well face charges of some kind. So far, none. In the meantime, one wonders if he’s created a new strategy for eco-terrorism: Eco-nomic, as opposed to Eco-logic.

Among many Westerners, the consensus is this: We are not against oil and gas development. We are against the greed, speed and scale of it. This is not about energy independence but the oil and gas industry's dependence on an oil-loyal administration to do its bidding. The integrity of our public lands depends on the integrity of our public process within the open space of democracy. This process is being abused and violated.

The Dec. 19 lease sale in Utah is just the latest symptom of the problem. The parcels were chosen under the cover of new BLM management plans that will guide the state's land policy for the next 20 years. To witness these plans is to witness a governing mind wedded to fragmentation, not wholeness. According to such environmental groups as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the plans were finalized in October and November with an eye to fast-tracking the lease sales before Bush's term runs out. In addition to allowing oil and gas drilling, they open 20,000 miles of backcountry trails to off-road vehicle use, putting in jeopardy wildlife habitat, rivers and streams and important cultural and archaeological sites. Once parcels are leased, a new administration would find it hard to undo the deals. And once parcels are developed, their possible wilderness designation would most likely become moot.

These acts of greed would come at the expense of a geography so stark and arresting that it renders one mute. The hands of erosion cut windows in sandstone; a spire, an arch or a natural bridge framing a sunset. The curvature of the Earth is not only seen but felt. Burnished and bronzed through time, this geologic architecture has inspired our American character, where self-reliance is predicated on humility, not arrogance

Inherent in these wild lands is an intact ecosystem and ecological resiliency in the face of climate change -- plant and animal diversity, functioning watersheds and soil conservation. This natural wealth is in stark contrast to the negligible resources the oil companies want to extract: The federal Energy Information Administration says that Utah holds less than 1% of the United States' known oil reserves.

The BLM has been forced to curtail the Dec. 19 lease sale, but 275,000 acres are still slated for the auction block, and the new management plans are still in place. "Deferred" leases can just keep appearing on quarterly sales for decades, and the fight over Utah's wild lands will go on unless we, the people, act. We should see to it that Congress passes America's Redrock Wilderness Act in 2009. It would once and for all put 9.4 million acres of Utah redrock wilderness in reserve, where it belongs.

The last-minute land grab in Utah's spectacular desert must be seen for what it is: not a boon for business but a bankruptcy of the imagination. What is actually being sold is the soul of a nation, one public parcel at a time.

Terry Tempest Williams is a writer who lives in Utah and Wyoming. Her most recent book, "Finding Beauty in a Broken World," was published in October.

I was wrong. What I have learned since then is that America is still a place where when you stand for what is right, you never stand alone. I can now see that I acted together with all Americans who respect the right as much as the law. I stood with Thoreau, Adams, Parks and Bob Moses. I now stand with the thousands who have expressed their solidarity with my act and will join me in Washington DC on March 2^nd for the Capitol Climate Action.

The tremendous outpouring of support which I have received in response to disrupting the BLM’s oil sale has been overwhelming for me. I can only assume that the thanks many of you have offered is not thanks for doing what you won’t, but thanks for awakening your own sense of efficacy. My actions were just the striking of the match head. The purpose of a match is not to light the world by its own flame, but to ignite the tinder and kindling which keeps the fire going. If my act is to be relevant, it must ignite the tinder of grassroots uprising which will burn the fires of change around the world.

The tinder of support already burning has given me hope that this country is ready to meet the urgent challenge before us. That challenge is clear and cannot be understated. James Hansen, the IPCC, Al Gore and others have warned in no uncertain terms that the next couple years are our last chance to take drastic action in response to climate change if we are to protect our civilization as we know it. I believe America is ready to make the sacrifices necessary to rise to that challenge. 

For decades the environmental movement has been dominated by cadre-based organizations who told the rest of us to just let the professionals handle things. We have been told that the best we can do is to sign an internet petition and send our donations so that Big Green could hire lobbyists to fight our battles. The upwelling of grassroots energy is finally responding that we are willing and able to do much more. We have discovered that hope for genuine change resides not on K Street or with Obama, but in ourselves. This uprising holds true to the faith that our heritage of civil disobedience is not dead and that we can again make this a government of the people. 

In 2009 our new Congress and new President will decide our fate. They will either show heroic courage in standing up to powerful interests and defending our future, or they will demonstrate tragic failure. Failure to respond to this unprecedented crisis. Yet they can only follow the trail we break. So as they decide, we will be there. We will be in Washington on March 2^nd, and we will be in every community in America all year long refusing to surrender the future of all for the short term profits of the few. Every one of us faces our own opportunities to make a difference. By responding to those individual challenges to our conscious, together we will defend our future.

Recently and consequently, Bill McKibben with Wendell Berry have taken up the call with a fusilege against the obvious evil of COAL.  Since we will either LIVE COAL FREE OR DIE, they assert:  "There are moments in a nation’s—and a planet’s—history when it may be necessary for some to break the law in order to bear witness to an evil, bring it to wider attention, and push for its correction. We think such a time has arrived."  Berry and McKibben will lead the Moral Assault on Coal from the near-steps of the Nation's Capitol on March 2.  See their open letter to all of us.

Tim's action stopping the lawless and immoral leasing of land-wrecking land abuse by the BLM, morally halting their rape of our public land and (perhaps) halting the give-away to a few for a few moments of illicit money is a simple and courageous act of clear conscience.  It asserts that these times call for active moral outrage and consequent civil engagement.  We cannot just talk about the problems and armchair-quarterback the future of our children.  Passive opinion without active civil action is fatal.  This is what James Hansen and our best climatologists are saying.

Meanwhile Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben and Tim DeChristopher are leading the action.  Required action.  This is the Revolutionary War of our time.  Coal, by itself ---just the coal China is planning now to burn --- can end civilization.  Will we end the future and not take action?

Tim has given his answer. 

Berry and McKibben have planned theirs on March 2 in Washington, DC.  The question is:  "What will we do now?"  Are we Tories or Rebels for freedom.  And are those standing in the middle awake?  The moral requirement for action, the moral requirement for effective Civil Disobedience has been clearly stated.

Will we respond? 

Tim DeChristopher is an economics student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He had just finished his last final exam before winter break. One of the exam questions was: If the oil and gas companies are the only ones that bid on public lands, are the true costs of oil and gas exploitation reflected in the prices paid?

DeChristopher was inspired. He finished the exam, threw on his red parka and went off to the Bureau of Land Management land auction that the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance called "the Bush administration's last great gift to the oil and gas industry." Instead of joining the protest outside, he registered as a bidder, then bought 22,000 acres of public land. That is, he successfully bid on the public properties, located near the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dinosaur National Monument, and other pristine areas. The price tag: more than $1.7 million.

He told me: "Once I started buying up every parcel, they understood pretty clearly what was going on ... they stopped the auction, and some federal agents came in and took me out. I guess there was a lot of chaos, and they didn't really know how to proceed at that point."

Patrick Shea, a former BLM director, is representing DeChristopher. Shea told the Deseret News: "What Tim did was in the best tradition of civil disobedience, he did this without causing any physical or material harm. His purpose was to draw attention to the illegitimacy and immorality of the process."

There is a long tradition of disrupting land development in Utah. In his memoir, "Desert Solitaire," Edward Abbey, the writer and activist, wrote: "Wilderness. The word itself is music. ... We scarcely know what we mean by the term, though the sound of it draws all whose nerves and emotions have not yet been irreparably stunned, deadened, numbed by the caterwauling of commerce, the sweating scramble for profit and domination."

Abbey's novel "The Monkey Wrench Gang" inspired a generation of environmental activists to take "direct action," disrupting "development." As The Salt Lake Tribune reported on DeChristopher: "He didn't pour sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank. He didn't spike a tree or set a billboard on fire. But wielding only a bidder's paddle, a University of Utah student just as surely monkey-wrenched a federal oil- and gas-lease sale Friday, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern Utah national parks won't be opened to drilling anytime soon."

Likewise, the late Utah Phillips, folk musician, activist and longtime Utah resident, often invoked the Industrial Workers of the World adage: "Direct action gets the goods.

More than just scenic beauty will be harmed by these BLM sales. Drilling impacts air and water quality. According to High Country News, "The BLM had not analyzed impacts on ozone levels from some 2,300 wells drilled in the area since 2004 ... nor had it predicted air impacts from the estimated 6,300 new wells approved in the plan." ProPublica reports that the Colorado River "powers homes for 3 million people, nourishes 15 percent of the nation's crops and provides drinking water to one in 12 Americans. Now a rush to develop domestic oil, gas and uranium deposits along the river and its tributaries threatens its future."

After questioning by federal authorities, DeChristopher was released.

The U.S. attorney is currently weighing charges. DeChristopher reflects: "This has really been emotional and hopeful for me to see the kind of support over the last couple of days ... for all the problems that people can talk about in this country and for all the apathy and the eight years of oppression and the decades of eroding civil liberties, America is still very much the kind of place that when you stand up for what is right, you never stand alone."

His disruption of the auction has temporarily blocked the Bush-enabled land grab by the oil and gas industries. If DeChristopher can come up with $45,000 by Dec. 29, he can make the first payment on the land, possibly avoiding any claim of fraud. If the BLM opts to re-auction the land, it can't happen until after the Obama administration takes over.

The sales, if they happen, will likely be different, thanks to the direct action of an activist, raising his voice, and his bidding paddle, in opposition.

Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour. Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column. The show airs on several area stations.

© 1998-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

You'll rarely see me dive into politics on this blog, but sometimes, I just gotta stand up and applaud. On Friday, December 19th, the BLM kicked off a hotly disputed oil- and gas-lease auction of public lands in Southern Utah near Arches, the White River, the Desolation/Green River region, Canyonlands, Nine Mile Canyon, the Book Cliffs, and Deep Creek Mountains.

Unlike the salvo of "mignight regulations" the administration has been passing to neuter Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts, this lease review was part of a longer term BLM (appointee) effort to shoehorn last-minute leases in before the administration leaves office. In other ways, it was typical of 'midnight regulation' tactics: The auction was announced on election day to hide the move behind bigger headlines. The Bush administration is on track to create far more 'midnight regulations' than any other administration in history. Many of these were quietly instituted 30 to 60 days ago, meaning they cannot be undone by the incoming Obama administration without considerable obstacles.  Despite efforts to keep the brouhaha down-low, widespread public dismay over the lease auction dropped the original acreage from 360,000 acres to 149,000 acres.

On auction day, about 200 protesters arrived at the BLM office in Salt Lake to show their displeasure, doing the usual sign waving and street theater. But one of them stepped up and went further.

University of Utah student Tim DeChristopher (27)

registered as a buyer and successfully bid on 10 lease parcels worth $1.8 million without having the money or any intention of buying or developing them, thus driving up the price on numerous leases, and tossing a monkeywrench into the ten leases he received.

Now we all drive cars, wear synthetic fabrics, and heat our homes, so petroleum exploration will be with us for the forseeable future. But to anyone who's spent much time outdoors in the West, the drilling land rush has been alarming. While oil and gas leases involve more regulations and royalties than hard rock mining (when those royalties are paid anyway), anyone who visits drilling hotbeds quickly realizes that remote sites bear little resemblance to the industry's squeaky PR campaigns, or sparkling clean roadside rigs. And published acreage figures never include roads, pipelines or collection tank stats. IMO, much of this is far from 'responsible use.'

Tim DeChristopher took direct action, and made a very bold statement using no violence or property destruction. In doing so he put himself at considerable personal risk. And there is no heroism without risk. So Tim DeChristopher is my new hero.

Now, a small but vocal and powerful minority is demanding that he be legally crucified (unlike the companies who have systematically underpaid billions in lease revenues). He'll probably need a legal defense fund. If so, and I find out where to donate, I'll publish it here.

Hike safe readers. And enjoy your upcoming holidays. -- 

Well, actually, no. That “reality” is nothing more than a cynical, self-serving myth promoted by the multinational corporate behemoths with a gigantic financial stake in maintaining our addiction to oil. The truth  is that we have immediately before us a rich and powerful array of existing, proven, carbon-free energy production and transportation technologies.

It is true, of course, that wholesale conversion of our national energy and transportation infrastructures will take time and cost money.   But if we act immediately, deliberately and strategically full carbon-free “sustainability” is easily within our power to achieve within one to two generations.

All  such effort must begin somewhere. For me it will begin in mid-February 2009 with the completion, on the Earth Restoration Portal,  of a fully integrated suite of policy recommendations called “The Renewable Deal.” 

This document is the continuously evolving masterwork of one fantastically capable and dedicated man—Richard Lance Christie—but it skillfully synthesizes the work of hundreds of eminent experts, scholars  and path-breaking researchers.

Plank One of the Renewable Deal  policy portfolio identifies how we can achieve energy security in a post-carbon world, while ten other “planks” concern the equally important—and intimately interrelated—issues of food security, water security, health care, education, transportation systems, ecological restoration, and other features of an“Ecozoic society,” as we call it, borrowing a term coined by philosopher Thomas Berry.

Chapter One of Plank One reviews the many cumulative studies done in the world on how we can build a renewables-based energy system by 2050 that has no fossil fuel inputs, no nuclear inputs, and produces no net greenhouse gases, while generating more quads of energy than are projected to be needed in 2050 by the Energy Information Agency under a no-conservation “business-as-usual” demand scenario,  at a slightly lower cost per quad than we paid in 2003 for the existing system’s output, in 2003 constant dollars. And, this can be done using off-the-shelf 2008 Best Available Technology.    We invite you to examine the facts and to experience a rush of hope and resolve.

You will find the “Renewable Deal” policy portfolio here within the ManyOne Community Portal Service, in the “Earth Restoration Portal”, a communications node for the “Earth Restoration Project.”

The mission of the Earth Restoration Project is to design, build, and implement a comprehensive masterplan for the staged restoration of the foundational life support systems of our planet, at every scale and in every time frame, from months to centuries .   We understand that any master plan must continuously retooled and improved over time to deal with an infinite number of unforeseen contingencies. We understand that planetary restoration MUST be a vast collaboration amongst hundreds or thousands of contributors across borders, oceans, continent s and time.

 The Earth Restoration Portal and Renewable Deal are associated with the international Relocalization Network launched by the PostCarbon Institute. Tim DeChristopher has been active with the Post Carbon Salt Lake relocalization group, and was introduced to the Renewable Deal’s energy plank. Tim’s articles and interviews cogently articulate his conviction—and ours-- that we don’t need to devour the last remnants of our national heritage for fossil energy in the name of national energy security or independence. Instead, we should and can replace our obsolete fossil-fuel-based energy system with the superior current-technology, renewables-based system outlined in the Renewable Deal, permitting the deliberate program of restoration of ecological integrity in the North American ecosystems described in Aspect One of the Renewable Deal to proceed.

Please join us in the Earth Restoration Project and Portal to help launch this important, challenging, and immensely creative collaborative venture.     The great work of the twenty-first century will be the restoration of our planet, and it success require every bit of energy and imagination and that humanity can collectively bring to it.

--Ray Wheeler,  Earth Restoration Project director

December 22, 2008

Are  environmentalists who oppose oil and gas leasing on undeveloped public lands hypocrites because the reality is that we have no choice but to rely upon fossil fuels for energy and transportation?

Well, actually: no!   That "reality" is a self-defeating myth promoted by those who are currently profiting from our addiction to fossil fuels. The truth is that a rich portfolio of cost-effective, non-carbon-based energy and transportation alternatives is readily available using existing, proven technology.

For a detailed  solutions, see Plank One, Chapter One, of the “Renewable Deal” hosted here on the ManyOne Network’s Earth Restoration Portal.

The "Renewable Deal" is a comprehensive road map for transformation of our country's energy, food, water, health care, education, economic

Plank One of the Renewable Deal concerns how we achieve energy security in a post-carbon world (other planks concern food security, water security, health promotion, education, transportation systems, and other features of this “Ecozoic society,” as Thomas Berry calls it).  Chapter One of Plank One reviews the many cumulative studies done in the world on how we can build a renewables-based energy system by 2050 that has no fossil fuel inputs, no nuclear inputs, and produces no net greenhouse gases while producing more quads of energy than are projected to be needed in 2050 by the Energy Information Agency under a no-conservation “business-as-usual” demand scenario at a slightly lower cost per quad than we paid in 2003 for the existing system’s output, in 2003 constant dollars.  And, this can be done using off-the-shelf 2008 Best Available Technology.

The Earth Restoration Portal and Renewable Deal are associated with the international Relocalization Network launched by the PostCarbon Institute.  Tim DeChristopher has been active with the Post Carbon Salt Lake relocalization group, and was introduced to the Renewable Deal’s energy plank.  In short, DeChristopher knows full well that we don’t need to rape the last remnants of our national heritage for fossil energy in the name of national energy security or independence.  Instead, we need to be replacing our obsolete fossil-fuel-based energy system with the superior current-technology, renewables-based system outlined in the Renewable Deal, permitting the deliberate program of restoration of ecological integrity in the North American ecosystems described in Aspect One of the Renewable Deal to proceed.

  By Phil Triolo

What couldn’t be done with letters; couldn’t be done with publicity campaigns; couldn’t be done with 120 enthusiastic environmentalists walking in circles in blustery gale-force winds in front of the Utah BLM Office; was finally achieved by one student, acting impulsively, at the BLM’s auction of leases on some of the most treasured lands in Utah. The student, Tim DeChristopher, simply registered to participate in the bidding process and won the right to lease public lands and explore for oil on quite a few choice parcels of Utah BLM Lands.  Won the right to keep America’s lands in the hands of the people- “Main Street” people in the current vernacular- and out of the hands of the oil exploration companies. At least for the time being.

Tim DeChristopher may actually have accomplished what many others including me only aspired to on the morning of December 19.   All of us understood that the parcels being offered for lease included lands bordering Arches National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, and Canyonlands National Park.   They included lands bordering the popular the Slickrock Bike Trail and Porcupine Rim—world-class hiking and mountain biking terrain in the heart of Utah’s spectacular redrock country.  They included lands within Nine Mile Canyon, an archeological treasure trove, and within the proposed Desolation Canyon Wilderness, where the Green River has carved a canyon 1,000 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon that remains today one of the natural wonders of the West.  Tim understood that that the idea of desecrating these places with oil rigs and the accompanying exploratory activities is so profoundly wrong as to border on evil.  And by the elegant devise of repeatedly raising paddle number 70,  Tim  managed to turn the tables and give our all-powerful petroleum industry the old exploratory shaft.

Pretty Sweet. Totally Righteous. Very Zen. Damned Brilliant. Inspiring, even.

One might ask why Tim was able to bid without showing any credentials or posting some kind of bond.   But apparently our public lands and natural resources are for sale to anyone who may wander in out of the cold.

How is it that all of these parcels of Utah BLM land were available for oil and gas leasing in the first place?  I can tell part of the story, but I’m no expert, just a concerned citizen. I follow these issues because they directly affect how I live and what I can do, and, as Tim pointed out, because I’m concerned for the future in light of persistent environmental threats. I care about these lands because they are liberating to me. They do not need to be economically productive. They need only serve to remind me of the wonder, the raw, quite, enduring power of the earth, of something I am a part of. My spirit is at peace even while I sit at my desk in Salt Lake City, with visions of these places in my mind’s eye.

To this “Nutcake”, toad-stool worshipping, taxpaying citizen, oil exploration in these sacred places is equivalent to committing a rape in a church, a synagogue a mosque or temple. It is unfathomable. Unconscionable. Morally bankrupt. The nadir act of an administration with no respect for American citizens or our natural heritage.

As a member of Red Rock Forests, a small but effective forest advocacy group based in Moab, I’ve been following this issue through email alerts and press reports.   I’ve read that president-elect Obama is opposed to these lease sales and has expressed an desire to overturn them, but I’m also aware that once the lease contracts are signed they may be difficult or impossible to overturn. Continuing public outcry is our best weapon

Up to now I’ve been an occasional and reluctant participant in the public comment process.  The “workshops” and hearings I’ve attended have felt more like window dressing than democracy.   Our land managers have their own agenda and are not really listening to our feedback. The proposed actions are a foregone conclusion: “Drill Baby, Drill!” “Roll, Baby Roll!” Privatize, Baby Privatize”.

But like many Americans I was inspired by the results of the recent election. The “Yes we can!” mentality has permeated my thick skin.  As I watched this leasing program unfold, I knew that I couldn’t just sit this one out.

So I did what any of us can and should do.  I forwarded an email alert from Red Rock Forests, with a personalized introduction, to nearly 100 friends and acquaintances.  A small but satisfying act, requiring just 45 minutes.

Was it effective? Yes, and surprisingly so. I got 4 emails from folks within 24 hours- letting me know that they had contacted their officials to voice opposition to the proposed leases, and that they had forwarded the email on to folks in their address books. In other words, 45 minutes of my time ended up magnifying my voice at least fourfold.

Cool…

The first response I got was from a friend, Joette Langianese, who was at the time a member of the Grand County Council. (Many of the contentious leases, and all of those around Arches National Park and along the Colorado River outside of Moab, are within Grand County.) She assured me that, as I was not the only one to have emailed her, she would talk to the state BLM officials and find out what was going on. I thanked her for her commitment to do so.

She followed up. We met the day after Thanksgiving and, over re-warmed turkey, stuffing and yams, she explained what had gone on in Grand County with respect to the oil and gas leases. She showed me her maps of potential and proposed lease areas. I didn’t take notes, but I did listen carefully, and here’s what I can recall…

Back in 2005 the Utah BLM office had notified the Grand County Council of its intention to hold . The council requested that the BLM delay its leasing plans until Resource Management Plans (RMPs) were in place.   RMP’s are comprehensive management plans, sort of like zoning master plans, that set goals and parameters for land management throughout the region during the next decade or more.  Among many other things, they identify what federally owned public lands will or will not be open to oil and gas leasing.   In 2005 the Grand RMP was still in development; the final document was not completed until late 2008. I had sent in my comments on the plans- and was disappointed with the results, which sanction off-road vehicle use throughout most of the resource area  lands with wilderness qualities. But that’s another story….

When I compared the old (pre- 2008 RMP) map of proposed leasing areas with the new map, it was clear that the BLM had dramatically scaled back its initial proposal, and that many of the leases would have a “no surface occupancy” stipulation, meaning that drilling rigs would have to be situated somewhere outside the lease area, using a slant or lateral drilling technique .

Further, one of Joette’s maps showed that only one of the drilling sites drilled in the entire region below I-70 in Grand County had actually struck oil or gas.

To the degree that Joette and her fellow council members were instrumental in reducing the scope of the leasing proposal I am grateful for their efforts.  We all understand that politics is a difficult balancing act.

But I am not a politician. I am a concerned citizen. I can be an idealist.  And I can foresee a future where our country is no longer addicted to oil and gas. I also understand the importance of  its natural wonders to the region’s economy.  This landscape is a mecca for outdoor recreation and a magnet for tourists from all over the world

The canyons of the Green and Colorado rivers are world-famous for their beauty.  Arches National Park has the highest concentration of natural bridges and arches in the world—its Delicate Arch is an international icon.

Throw in a few oil rigs here and there, a couple of roads, and the landscape so quickly loses its magic.   Fully develop the potential energy resources of the entire region, and you will have a vast new industrial wasteland riddled with networks of exploration roads, drill pads and seismic lines;  immense areas of intensive surface disturbance for oil shale and tar sands, nuclear power plants, hydroelectric dams, nuclear waste storage facilities, hazardous waste incinerators, coal burning power plants, uranium milling plants and tailings piles.   All these have been proposed or attempted in the past and may be well be attempted again at any time in the future.

I  see no justification for oil and gas development on any of the parcels in Grand County. The land is too precious as it is--raw, red, dusty, dry, desolate, other-worldly-- to allow for very speculative oil and gas exploration (or off-highway vehicles!) to mar its beauty.  You don’t play Russian Roulette, Exxon style, on public lands… not on my public lands, not in my backyard, not on my holy soil, not if I can do anything about it.

I got another email from Red Rock Forests with detailed background information on each of the parcels available for leasing www.Red Rockforests.org/blm dec 2008 oil and gas lease.htm . The email had links to SUWA’s (Southern Utah Wilderness Association; www.suwa.org ) website, along with BLM address and phone number where the information needed to be sent or faxed. Crazy but true: the BLM will not accept public comment via email.

Once again I forwarded the information provided by Red Rock Forests on to my list, and once again got an immediate response.  A couple of “thank you’s”, even.  I found I had forced my own hand and sat down at the machine and cranked out a 2-pager detailing the reasons why I thought specific parcels should be permanently withdrawn from consideration for leasing for oil and gas exploration. 

I felt good—especially because it was apparent that a mounting public outcry was beginning to have an effect.   Some parcels on private lands had been withdrawn from the sale, as were others in Nine Mile Canyon and immediately adjacent to National Parks.  This was encouraging.  But withdrawal from the December 19 sale affords no permanent protection from future leasing.    The lands can be offered again for lease at any time.

None of the lands should be available for leasing. Not now. Not in February. Not ever…

Letter written, I contemplated what follow-up information to provide my email list. Others were entering the fray. Robert Redford and the National Resources Defense Council filed suit against the BLM, claiming that the agency had not followed procedures required to allow the parcels to be leased.

Then came an invitation from Red Rock Forests and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to join a protest march on December 19.  By email, telephone, radio and word of mouth, the message went viral across Salt Lake City.    I fashioned a sign and set off to the protest.

The rest is history soon to become folklore. While I and others marched outside on Friday, Tim DeChristopher marched inside and outdid us all.

Interesting opportunities now present themselves. What if Tim were to get the money, that $1.8 million dollars that he bid for the leases? He’s committed no crime if he can make good on his bids. Let’s see:  that would require 18,000 of us giving $100 apiece. Count me in. Where do I send the money? Anyone out there with deep pockets? How about some of that bailout cash?

Meanwhile, I’m wondering about the possibilities for one or more Tim DeChristopher Wilderness Areas. I kinda like the ring.  “Let’s go for a hike in the TDC” sounds very right to this “part-time crusader, and half-hearted fanatic”.

Phil Triolo runs an engineering consulting business in Salt Lake City, and is a long-time Utah environmental activist.

 --by Richard Lance Christie

 On November 6, the Salt Lake Tribune editorialized that “Bush administration officials are rushing to implement new rules and change old ones before they pack up and leave Washington….The losers are the West’s wildlife, archaeological treasures, fragile forests and deserts and all Americans who want to enjoy the quiet beauty of public lands, breathe clean air and drink clean water.”  “The hurried-up [Bureau of Land Management Regional] plans, five of which were released last week, are an eleventh-hour effort of Bush’s BLM to eliminate federal protections for Utah’s redrock treasures and give extractive industries and motorized recreationists a virtual free hand.”

Bureaucratic nanoseconds after the Moab and Vernal Regional Management Plans were adopted, an oil and gas lease sale of 360,000 acres of lands in these Utah regions was announced.  These lands included 100,000 acres adjacent to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dinosaur National Monument and 57,000 acres inside roadless areas nominated for wilderness protection in the Red Rock Wilderness Act currently before Congress with 116 co-sponsors in the House and 20 in the Senate.  They even included a parcel wedged between (and under) half-million-dollar homes in the Highlands subdivision and the Moab Golf Course in Spanish Valley.

The BLM has a standing agreement with its sister agency in the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service (NPS), that the NPS be notified in advance of any parcels proposed for oil and gas leasing which might affect visual or air quality in a national park unit.  This permits the NPS to evaluate impacts and ask the BLM withdraw parcels or put stipulations on leases to protect park lands from bad effects of oil and gas development next door.  The BLM did not notify the NPS about any of the 100,000 acres of parcels near park units in the Utah lease sale bundle.  When the NPS protested, the BLM ultimately refused to defer sale of a number of parcels of concern so the NPS could do their analysis of impacts and ask for appropriate mitigation stipulations on a parcel lease when it was auctioned.  In mid-December, seven environmental groups filed suit against the BLM to stop the lease sale of these parcels that might impact national park units until the NPS could do their analysis and make recommendations.

An explosion of media stories and editorials followed.  All had essentially the same theme: that this oil and gas lease sale was an environmentally-destructive, ill-considered, eleventh-hour surrender of public lands values to the extractive industry sponsors of the outgoing Bush administration.  Examples include “Final Days Fire Sale” in the New York Times on December 13 , and a CBS television news documentary.

In an Op Ed in the 7 December Los Angeles Times, Terry Tempest-Williams wrote:  “The last-minute land grab in Utah’s spectacular desert must be seen for what it is: not a boon for business but a bankruptcy of the imagination.  What is actually being sold is the soul of a nation, one public parcel at a time.”

The BLM hastened to assure us that many sensitive parcels would be sold with “no surface occupancy” stipulations, and others would require the oil and gas rigs to be painted red in an effort to hide them in the viewscape.   The problem with the “no surface occupancy” stipulation is that when a company acquires a BLM lease, it acquires a property right to the mineral resource which the BLM has a legal obligation to fulfill .  Stipulations that require an oil company to stay off leases during Bighorn rutting season, for example, will allow the company to occupy and explore the lease at other times.  In the past, when leaseholders could demonstrate that a “no surface occupancy” stipulation prevented them from exploring and developing a leased parcel, the stipulation was simply removed.   Even with a “no surface occupancy” stipulation the BLM is obligated demonstrate that a viable drilling platform is available from which the leased parcel can be explored and developed for oil and gas.  However, no such analysis was done for any parcel in the Utah sale.

Under pressure from a swarm of activists and environmental groups in southeastern Utah, of which I was one, the NPS and various other agencies, the BLM kept deferring the sale of particularly egregious parcels.  However, none of us could figure out which parcels were still in the sale and which were actually deferred.   And parcels deferred from immediate sale can still be offered at a later date.  As of December 16, the BLM was saying that circa 150,000 acres of parcels would be auctioned on December 19, while our best guess from the BLM's incomplete revised maps was that it was closer to two thirds of the original 360,000 acres, or about 230,000 acres.

As reported in the December 20 Salt Lake Tribune, on Thursday evening December 18, just before the BLM lease sale on December 19 morning, seven conservation organization plaintiffs and the BLM reached a “stand down” agreement in federal court in Washington, D.C.  The BLM agreed it would not issue leases on 80 contested parcels until, at earliest, January 19, 2009.  Another federal court hearing on the matter was scheduled on January 12, 2009, to see if agreement between the plaintiffs, the BLM, and the NPS had been achieved on leasing or withdrawing the contested parcels.  In other words, the environmental group plaintiffs won the deferral of lease of these parcels so the NPS could review their impacts.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, in the lease sale held in Salt Lake City on December 19, the “stood down” parcels were in fact offered for lease--including most of those bid on and “won” by Tim DeChristopher!

This leads us into a thicket of questions.  How could DeChristopher illegally bid on a parcel that wasn’t legally for sale in the first place, but was on the block anyway in violation of the BLM’s settlement agreement before the federal court?  How could the BLM let DeChristopher onto the bidding floor with a bidding paddle and kit without any check of bonding qualification to bid at the lease sale?  If what DeChristopher did was technically illegal, was not what the BLM was doing also technically illegal?  In their bum’s rush to get oil and gas leases sold out the door before the Bush administration comes to its ignominious end, there are at least a lot of legal loose ends in the BLM lease sale process – a fact a federal court has already agreed with for 80 of the parcels.  This whole mess is an employment security package for attorneys.

Some have argued that all environmentalists opposing oil and gas leasing, including DeChristopher, are hypocrites because we use fossil fuels and “we need” to explore and develop all the fossil fuel resources we can in North America to achieve energy security.  This is false.  This link will take you to Plank One, Chapter One, of the “Renewable Deal” hosted here on the ManyOne Network’s Earth Restoration Portal.  Plank One of the Renewable Deal concerns how we achieve energy security in a post-carbon world (other planks concern food security, water security, health promotion, education, transportation systems, and other features of this “Ecozoic society,” as Thomas Berry calls it).  Chapter One of Plank One reviews the many cumulative studies done in the world on how we can build a renewables-based energy system by 2050 that has no fossil fuel inputs, no nuclear inputs, and produces no net greenhouse gases while producing more quads of energy than are projected to be needed in 2050 by the Energy Information Agency under a no-conservation “business-as-usual” demand scenario at a slightly lower cost per quad than we paid in 2003 for the existing system’s output, in 2003 constant dollars.  And, this can be done using off-the-shelf 2008 Best Available Technology.

The Earth Restoration Portal and Renewable Deal are associated with the international Relocalization Network launched by the PostCarbon Institute.  Tim DeChristopher has been active with the Post Carbon Salt Lake relocalization group, and was introduced to the Renewable Deal’s energy plank.  In short, DeChristopher knows full well that we don’t need to rape the last remnants of our national heritage for fossil energy in the name of national energy security or independence.  Instead, we need to be replacing our obsolete fossil-fuel-based energy system with the superior current-technology, renewables-based system outlined in the Renewable Deal, permitting the deliberate program of restoration of ecological integrity in the North American ecosystems described in Aspect One of the Renewable Deal to proceed.

SOLAR

Germany and Spain are  leading the way, thanks to generous solar energy incentives. Germany is the number one producer of solar energy in the world, well on its way towards producing 20% of its electric power with solar photo voltics. This was highliighted in a recent PBS Nova episode, which also reported that Germany has created 170,000 jobs in the solar industry. The number 2 country in solar production is Japan.

Spain has set a goal of supplying 30% of its energy needs by renewable energy by 2010 and is well on its way towards this objective. Spain's Minister of Industry estimates that renwable energy (RE) industries will create 200,000 jobs by 2010.

A Spanish company (Abengoa Solar) is building the world's largest solar power plant on three square miles in the Arizona desert in an area southwest of Phoenix. Abeengoa will build, own and operate the $1 billion solar thermal  plant. Arizona Public Service, state's largest utility, will pay Abengoa $4 billion over 30 years for the energy produced, estimated to be enough to provide full power for up to 70,000 homes.  

And China has become the world leader in solar water heating and has a growth rate of 20-30% in its solar electric production. According to the March/April 2008 issue of Solar Today, in 2006, China committed to investing $200 billion over 15 years to meet nationally mandated targets for clean energy. China plans to have 60 gigawatts of renewable energy (not including large hydroelectric) by 2010 and 120 GW by 2020.

Morgan Stanley recently estimated that by 2030, clean energy sales will amount to $1 trillion/year. Deutsche Bank predicts solar market penetration will grow to 11%, wind energy to 9.6% and biofuels to 21%.

In the USA, alternative energy has been victimized by spurt and stop growth due to incentives which have been unpredictable and often only short-term. However, California is leading the way. Gov Schwarzenagger recently signed another hallmark bill, The Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007 (AB 1470), committing 10 years of subsidies to solar water heating with the aim of building at least 200,000 new solar water heating systems by 2017. It is hoped this would create a mainstream, self-sufficient market.

This follows the Million Solar Roofs Act of 2006 (SB1) which aims for solar panels on at least 1 million rooftops by 2018 by providing incentives for existing homes to retrofit and requiring new homes built after 2010 to have optional rooftop solar sytems. In addition, the California Public Utilities Commission recently approved a plan to require all new housing developments to be energy self-sufficient by 2020 and new commercial buildings by 2030. The PUC does not have the necessary enforcement power, but the plan will become law if the California Energy Comission or the state legislature adopt the proposal.

Hawaii is considering requiring solar waters on all new houses. Oregon provides 50% energy tax credits for photovoltics and solar thermal projects and these credits are in addition to the current 30% federal tax credit.

Pacific Gas and Electiric (PG&E) is an example of curent progress in California. PG&E recently entered into a series of contracts for a total of 900 MW of solar power. The first of these plants will produce 100 MW in Ivanpah, California and is expected to produce 246,000 MWh of renwable electricity per year, starting as early as 2011. For 2008, the utility expects to derive 14% of its energy from renewable sources. 

The Wetern Governors Association has set an ambitious goal of at least 8,000 MW of solar by 2015. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) estimates that 314 MW of new solar were installed in the US in 2007, contributing $2 billion and 6,000 new jobs to the economy. The grid-connected PV market grew by 45% in 2007 after a 53% increase in 2006. This 2007 total broke down to about 150 MW connected to the grid and 50 MW off the grid. About one-third of this was residential and two-thirds was non-residential.

The January 2008 issue of Scientific American proposed spending $420 billion between 2011 and 2050 to fund a massive switch from coal oil and natural gas to solar plants, which could produce 69% of this country's electricity and 35% of its total energy by 2050. 

Coal subsidies in the 2005 Energy Act are estimated to be $5-9 billion. A report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) show total energy research and development expenditures for 2002-2007 to be $11.5 billion, with $6,2 billion of this going to nuclear, $3.1 billion to fossil fuels and $1.4 billion to renewable energy. Total Tax expenditures for this period for the energy sector was $18.2 billion, with fossil fuel receiving $13.7 of this and renewable energy getting only $2.8 billion.

The Rand Corporation estimated that the US was spending $30-60 billion per year in routing military expenditures to protect access to Middle Eastern oil before the Iraq War. This was despite the fact that oil imported from the region during the same period was valued at only $20 billion.

ELECTRIC CARS

The April 22, 2008 ConsumersReports.org reveals a new direction in electric cars. And the way is being lead by Isreal, Denmark, Silicon Valley, Renault and Nissan. An alliance between Nissan and Renault will soon be selling electric automobiles in Israel. Renault recently partnered with Siicon Valley based start-up Project Better Place (PBP) to supply Renault Megane sedans to be sold in Israel starting in 2011. BPB, in turn, will create 500,000 battery charging and replacement stations throughout Isreal as well as charging points in public parking garages and along streets.

The Megane is a sedan the size of a Volkswagon Jetta and is said to be able to accelerate from 0-60 MPH in eight seconds and have a range of 125 miles. Purchase price is expected to be similar to an equivalent-sized car with a 1.6-liter engine. A generous tax subsidy by the Israeli government will help make the price of the car competitive. In Israel, 90% of car owners drive less than 44 miles per day and the country's largest three cities are within 100 miles of each other.

Megane EV owners will suscribe to a battery replacement or recharging plan that is based on their milage. An onboard computer will indicate milage left and the location of the nearest battery replacement or recharging spot. Removing and replacing the battery is planned to be performed by a robot. Operating costs are expected to be significantly less than filling up with gasoline (which costs about $6.90/ gallon in Israel).

A similar experiment if planned for Denmark- another country known for short driving distances. In Denmark, 50,000 recharging stations (powered by renewable wind energy) are planned.

The battery for the Renault is an advanced lithium-ion type, developed by Nissan and NEC of Japan. This type of battery is commonly considered the next step up from the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today's production hybrids. Li-on batteries are still considered by many experts to be in their developmentsl infancy for automotive use and concerns about it longevity, charging time, and potential to overheat are still being addressed.

Hybrid Cars

The demand for hybrid automobiles has increased to the point where Toyota dealers are reporting that the time that a new Prius spends on the lot is measured in hours. The Saturn Vue hybrid sells in an average of 16 days, compared to 60 days last year. However, sales for three hybrid models- Honda Civic, Toyota Highlander and Mercury Mariner- fell by roughly half this spring compared to a year ago. The problem has been production bottlenecks, especially in battery production. Toyota has reached the production limit at its Japaneese Prius factory. It will build a new battery plant and expand another in conjunction with partner Panasonic.

The next phase of battery development is expected to rely on Lithium Carbonate and there will be some major obstacles. Economically recoverable Lithium Brine Reserves are lower than previously previously estimated at only 4 million tons of lithium. Mass prodution of Lithium Carbonate will cause largescale irreparable ecological damage and be incompatible with the concept of a "green" car. In addition, the highly focused geographical concentration of Lithium production will exacerbate the already strained geopolitical relations between Latin America and the USA.

Toyota is actually already starting to look beyond Lithium towards solid-state batteries and and metal-air batteries and presumably that will include Zinc-air. Nissan, on the other hand, is looking at fourth generation lithium batteries that their vice presidnet for research and development, Mitsuhiko Yamashita says (according to the Wall Street Journal) will deliver ranges of up to 400 KM (284 miles) compared to today.s batteries which are limited to about about 100 miles.

GEOTHERMAL

The city of Reno Nevada is a hotspot for Geothermal power production. Geothermal plants now provide enough electricity to serva all of its 200,000 residents. Nationally, geothermal produces less than 3000 megawatts annually, only 0.4 percent of total energy use (roughly equivalent to two coal fired power plants).

The investment risks of geothermal commercial development are still too high. Projects take years of planning and construction and do not get the large government subsidies that other energy produce recieve.  But adequate public funding of research and development could change this. The Energy Independence Security Act of 2007, which was signed into law in December, 2007, directs the Department of Energy to authorize up to $95 million annually for geothermal research and development. And 90% of identified geothermal resources are on public lands. 

And, in spite of current problems, more than 80 geothermal projects are in the works in the West, in every state except Montana and Colorado. The BLM has issued nearly 300 geothermal leases since 2001, compared to only 25 between 1996 and 2001. And 100 geothermal lease requests were pending as of January, 2005. The BLM has promised to process at least 90% of these by 2010. And, according to an MIT study, advances in geothermal technology could supply 100,000 megawatts by 2050, amounting to 10% of the US energy production.

Tidal Turbines

Seagen, the world's largest tidal turbine was recently completed in Strangford Narrows, Northern Ireland. The 1.2 megawatt generator was completed in mid-May, 2008 and testing (including fulltime monitoring of marine mammal activity around the structure) should be completed by September. Seagen uses two 16-meter rotors which will operate during tidal flows, 18 to 20 hours/day. It will produce four times the power of any previous tidal stream generator. The owner, Marine Current Turbines has entered into a joint venture to build a 10.5 megawatt project in North Wales, to operate by 2012.

Nuclear option

Nuclear power has several drawbacks compared to renewable energy options. Investors have been reluctant to invest in nuclear due to the high costs and risks involved. Nuclear will not be developed without massive government subsidies and guarantees. And nuclear plants started at the earliest possible date are unlikely to produce any power before 2020. In the meantime, a wind power park producing 1.8 gigiwatts (more than a single nuclear plant) in Texas took less than eight months in 2006. And by the time nuclear power goes online, its costs will be significantly higher than wind or solar.

Bike Power

Production of electric-powered bicycles has doubled since 2004, reaching 21 million units in 2007, according to a report by the Eart Policy Institute. A total of 130 million bikes were built worldwide last year, compared to 52 million cars. Bicycle production has quadrupled since 1970, while car production has doubled over the same period. About 88 percent of all bikes are built in China, with another 5 percent in Taiwan. 

The writing is on the wall.

Defining the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Assessment Boundary

FUNDECOR has defined the project boundary and conducted an initial five-year baseline study based upon the six Life Zones according to the Holdrige Classification System. The project baseline was calculated from the cover studies conducted in the country for the years 2000-2005 which made it possible to identify the gross and net rate of deforestation in the area. PES contracts were executed and monitored in the area and administered by FONAFIFO.

Estimating the Baseline GHG Removals

Potential leakage from secondary effects are considered minimal primarily due to the national monitoring and verification methodologies implemented by the government agency FONAFIFO. For example, upstream and downstream effects such as deforestation in other areas not under PES protection are considered less likely given the national conservation area management plan under FONAFIFO’s supervision. Conservation areas within Costa Rica cover approximately 27% of the land-mass of the country and therefore require extensive national cross over monitoring.

Estimating and Quantifying Carbon Stocks

A forest cover analysis was performed in the proposed area of study for the 2000-2005 period which made it possible to quantify the cover area as well as the deforested area and observe the changes which occurred in the period. Of the total hectares present with cover, protected areas were excluded since they already exist under some category of protection. The study, “Estimate of the amount of carbon stored and captured (air mass) by the forests of Costa Rica,” made it possible to determine the biomass potential present in the life zones according to soil use. A weighted average was then obtained of biomass per hectare for the estimates of avoided deforestation.

Quantifying GHG Reductions

In order to reduce uncertainty of GHG reductions by estimating the level of threat of deforestation in the project area, the model developed by FUNDECOR projects the gross deforestation under different PES scenarios in different types of forest according to public and private values. The methodology’s objective is to isolate the PES effect from other possible variables that could affect deforestation in a region or zone and use the PES, its level and spatial distribution as the country’s political variable for the environmental services in private forests. According to observations, the model explains 84% of quarterly gross deforestation variability in 19 regions of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range of Costa Rica and the estimated parameters are 98% expected and directly the result of the PES program in the subject area. This is strong evidence that the PES program represents one of the most effective avoided deforestation programs in the region if not in the world.

The implementation of this project proposes the inclusion of 12,000 hectares to the PES Program in the first five years; during the remaining five years, these areas will remain the same until the project’s 10-years are completed. Without the PES Program in this area, 6,160 hectares would have been deforested. With the program, during the first five years, the deforestation in the project area will be 1,813 hectares and then reduced to 669 hectares in the next five years. This is an avoided deforestation of 3,680 hectares and a total of 1,935,074 metric tons of CO2 not emitted into the atmospheres over the ten-year period.

Monitoring/Verification of GHG Reductions and Total Carbon Stocks

There are a number of monitoring provisions to insure transparency and consistency. FONAFIFO, FUNDECOR and INBio, as separate governmental and non-governmental agencies, will all participate in overlapping monitorings of the project area. Once FONAFIFO signs the contracts with individual land-owners, it conducts an analysis of the farm so that the persons who submit their lands to the program are identified by those contracts within the Real Estate Record Office. Each year, before disbursement, the private farms are visited to verify that the planned activities are being carried out and that forest cover is being maintained.

FUNDECOR, in addition to providing technical base-line studies in the project area, will be in charge of promoting the Project to identify and incorporate land owners within the project boundaries into the PES Program.

The National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio) will be responsible monitoring the existing biodiversity in the Project Area. Four monitorings will take place during the project’s life span. The years defined for these monitorings include: one at the beginning which will establish the base line and the remaining three which will take place during years 4, 7 and 10. Three indicators will be monitored: diversity of plants related to wealth (number of species) and abundance (number of individuals per species); diversity of key bird species which will make it possible to detect changes in the bird’s biodiversity through composition (“wealth of species”) and structure (relative abundance of species) of the ‘comunidad diruna’ of birds in time for each evaluated farm; and diversity of dung beetles, whose groups of organisms and diversity of measurements reflect diversity measurements of other groups in a habitat or determined ecosystem. INBio developed the biodiversity monitoring protocol for FONAFIFO specifically for this project.

Permanency of GHG Emissions Reduction

Tropical rainforests seldom burn or disappear unless caused by human activity. The project risks are thus minimized by a number of important factors. The project area is surrounded by three National Parks: Braulio Carrillo to the East and Turrialba and Irazu Volcano to the South. In addition, part of the buffer zone around these national parks is found in the project area where it is important to develop actions which tend to guarantee forest cover as protection for the National Parks. This has been accomplished through FONAFIFO’s management expertise over a ten-year period. The risk associated with the project has been minimized since FONAFIFO developed the PES Program 10-years ago during which time the resources within the project boundaries have been successfully preserved. The country’s forest cover has increased 50% by 2005, in part, due to the PES Program. It has a monitoring and internal evaluation system which has guaranteed the protection of resources successfully for over a decade.

Additional Beneficiaries

The main environmental benefit of the project is its permanence and guarantee of forest cover on 12,000 hectares of land which are currently in private hands with limitations to its change of use but exposed to deforestation for a variety of economic reasons. These newly protected forests will provide fresh material for neighboring areas stripped of vegetation, promote the reduction of illegal deforestation in the area and damage to the remaining natural forest. From a biological point of view, it will maintain the integrity of habitats, ecosystems and biological function of the landscape outside of the absolute protection areas and contribute to the sustainable flow of goods and services for society.