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.

While I’ve certainly been encouraged by the reversal of the leases, the most important thing that justifies any consequences is the development of Peaceful Uprising.  Over the past year, Peaceful Uprising has become a powerful force in the fight against catastrophic climate change.  We have developed an extremely talented and committed group of people who defend a livable future through empowering nonviolent action.  

Over the past year we have been experimenting with exactly what the role of Peaceful Uprising should be.  We launched the group by taking 30 students to Washington DC for the Power Shift Conference and the Capitol Climate Action.  Being a part of the largest mass civil disobedience in the climate movement, which shut down the Capitol Power Plant and ended their use of coal, was a very empowering experience for those students.  From there we initiated a grassroots lobbying effort which included a novel phone tree that generated almost 400 calls in one day to Blue Dog Jim Matheson about his statements earlier that day.  The pathetic result of the Waxman-Markey Bill helped many people realize that working within the system was not going to save us and stronger action was necessary.  Peaceful Uprising moved on with a powerful flash-mob in August and a highly successful 350 event on October 24^th.  

During this time, the true roles for Peaceful Uprising became clear.  At the dozens of speeches and public events I’ve done this year, countless people have expressed that they respect what I did and see the need for similar actions, but don’t feel empowered to take those actions themselves.  Creating that sense of empowerment is the most important role of Peaceful Uprising.  We do this first through our actions that demonstrate that ordinary people can be bold and effective agents of change. We are also committed to walking people through that personal transformation necessary to realize their potential.  We help people find where they fit into the movement and see that they are more courageous, creative and beautiful than they ever knew.

The other role of Peaceful Uprising is to take the actions that other environmental groups are not willing to take.  Some of our mainstream environmental groups are opposed to the owner of our local Snowbird Ski Resort, Dick Bass, developing a massive coal strip mine on Alaska’s Chuitna River, but they were not willing to wage a boycott against the resort.  So PeaceUp stepped in and created dontskicoalbird.com for skiers and season pass holders to commit to never buying another pass at Snowbird if Bass goes through with the mine.  We will continue escalating this campaign with actions at Snowbird throughout the winter.  Likewise, we will be complementing the campaign of some of our local clean air groups against Kennecott Copper Mine, who runs the only coal fired power plant in the Salt Lake valley, with the confrontational actions needed to stop their coal burning forever.  

Now that the Copenhagen negotiations have catastrophically failed, the need for a bold and honest group like Peaceful Uprising is greater than ever.  The failures of Copenhagen and climate legislation have created a clear moral imperative for direct citizen action.  As we are running out of time to deal with the climate crisis, Peaceful Uprising is a force that can turn the movement’s failure into success.  We now have three people working full time and dozens of others putting consistent effort into our mission.  We are connecting to other bold groups and creative leaders across the country to create the impactful climate movement that we so desperately need.

Many people from around the country supported me when I took a risky move.  PeaceUp will make sure that actions like mine will continue to happen often enough to defend a livable future.  Please help support Peaceful Uprising so that my action is never thought of as a single feat but as just one act in a bold movement.  Your donation can make a huge difference to our success in rising to the greatest challenge we have ever faced.  Can you donate $20 to help defend a livable future?  We run a lean and mean operation, so even a few dollars helps.  Click here to donate now.  

If you’d like to stay up to date on Peaceful Uprising, sign up to receive our newsletter.  If you’re in Utah, stop by our office at 362 S. 300 E. to find out how you can get involved.

The vast majority of times green groups ask people to act, it centers on changing our consumption habits.  At first glance this makes sense.  If consumption is the problem, shouldn’t we try to change the way people consume?  The catch is that every time we focus on how individuals can change their consumption, we are sending the message that their real power to make a difference lies in how they shop.  This simply reinforces the cultural myth that the most important part of who we are as people is our role as a consumer. 

That myth is a lie.  We are much more than consumers.  We are citizens of what was once the greatest democracy on the planet, citizens with the ability and responsibility to change our government.  We are human beings with the power to inspire others through our creativity, our sacrifice, and our courage.  These are the parts of humanity we must point to when we call others to action.

The focus on individual consumption habits comes from the notion that changes on any level start with personal transformation.  That is certainly true, but not all personal transformations are created equal.  Changing people from being obsessed with consumption to being obsessed with green consumption is not going to get us to real sustainability.  We need transformations away from consumer-centered identity into human-centered identity.  We need personal evolution into engaged and demanding citizens and into bold and creative activists.  We need the kind of transformations that awaken us to our own potential and remind us that we are not helpless.

Of course, those consumption habits do need to change if we’re going to have a livable future.  But to get that sustainable culture, who we are as consumers will have to become a small part of who we are as human beings.  When we start people on that road of personal transformation, we automatically attack that pathological overconsumption.  The spiritual void which begs for material consumption begins to be filled by a more human identity.  In order to truly be the change we want to see in the world, we environmental leaders might have to stop talking to people about their consumption so much.

When I ask people to take action against climate change, they often think what I’m asking them to do is impossible.  If someone only sees herself as a consumer, it makes sense that she cannot see her potential to be an agent of fundamental change in our society, economy or political system.  I suspect this is responsible for much of the helplessness many people feel when addressing huge issues like climate change.  Our job in Peaceful Uprising is to show people that they are not helpless.  

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.

Prosecutors on Friday filed a motion arguing that Tim DeChristopher, who disrupted a federal government oil and gas lease sale last year, should not be allowed to use concerns about global warming as a defense.

"In the end, it becomes clear that the defendant's hopes are to have a prominent venue for his global warming show ... " the government said in documents filed in federal court. "The public square is the proper stage for the defendant's message, not criminal proceedings in federal court."

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said a month ago that he was disinclined to allow such a defense, but asked DeChristopher's attorneys for the explanation before he ruled on a prosecution motion to block it.

DeChristopher is asking to be allowed to call expert witnesses that include NASA climate scientist James Hansen, who has been warning about greenhouse-gas emissions and climate disruption since the 1980s.

In his defense, DeChristopher also plans to draw on U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina's Jan. 17 temporary restraining order on the auction.

That ruling, in a lawsuit filed by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and several other conservation and historic-preservation organizations, said the Bureau of Land Management acted illegally when it failed to properly evaluate damage to air quality, the unique character of Utah geography and potential harm to cultural resources.

DeChristopher won 14 parcels at the Dec. 19 Bureau of

DeChristopher faces up to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines under felony charges he organized and participated in a scheme to "defeat" federal law and made a fraudulent statement when he registered as a bidder.

Update: The September 25th hearing established the uphill battle that Tim and the legal team will face in court.  Judge Dee Benson said he was strongly inclined not to let Tim present the necessity defense in front of the jury.  Tim and the team are now presenting the case in writing, due to the judge on October 25th.  Full Story here.

 Help Put Climate Change on Trial

Update: The September 25th hearing established the uphill battle that Tim and the legal team will face in court.  Judge Dee Benson said he was strongly inclined not to let Tim present the necessity defense in front of the jury.  Tim and the team are now presenting the case in writing, due to the judge on October 25th.  Full Story here.

 Help Put Climate Change on Trial

Motion in Limine Filed on 5/14/09

Proffer on Necessity Defense Filed on 10/26/09

             Addendum A

             Addendum B

             Addendum C

             Addendum D

             Addendum E

             Addendum F

             Addendum G

             Addendum H

Government Response to Written Proffer Filed on 10/30/09

Final Reply to Gov't Response Filed on 11/3/09

Eight of the 77 oil and gas lease parcels sold during a December auction that a saboteur wrecked and a federal judge later halted will be off-limits to drilling, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has decided.

Allowing development on the 7,670 public acres near Canyonlands and Arches national parks, Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile canyon could harm critical sage-grouse habitat with little obvious benefit to oil and gas development, concluded a 39-page analysis released Thursday.

During a Washington news conference, Salazar said 52 parcels would be held back pending further study and 17 would be allowed back at upcoming auctions.

Drawing from the report -- compiled by an 11-member team from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Forest Service who examined more than 103,000 acres from the ground up -- Salazar scolded the Bush administration for allowing the Dec. 19 auction in Salt Lake City to go forward.

"The report demonstrates there was a headlong rush" to allow oil and gas companies to drill public land in areas, he said, that should not have been leased because of the ecological resources associated with them.

"It's a new day," Salazar said. "We came into the [Interior Department] on a reform agenda. It's a new beginning for us on how we deal with public lands and energy and our oil and gas leases. ... We'll continue to develop oil and gas in the right way."

Conservationists lauded the report.

"The report is a firm rejection of the 'drill here, drill now' policies of the Bush administration," said Steve Bloch, an attorney and conservation director with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, one of 11 conservation and historic-preservation organizations that sued to stop the auction. "It confirmed our belief that the December 2008 lease sale was a rushed approach to sell off some of America's most iconic landscapes."

The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States said the Interior Department "chose redundant analysis over domestic energy development" and argued all 77 leases should be reinstated.

The Interior report found that field BLM office employees at times believed they were required by law to give greater deference to mineral-leasing proposals than to protection of other land uses.

"[The team members] don't think that anyone acted nefariously or did anything wrong," Salazar said. "But the fact is that our system's been set up in a way where the information that's made available to the BLM decision-makers is not very complete."

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, interpreted its findings as a vindication of the BLM. Bennett had demanded the report as a condition for releasing a hold on confirmation hearings for Interior Deputy Director David Hayes earlier this year.

"This report proves what I've been saying all along -- that the Utah BLM office followed the proper procedures for reviewing the proposed lease parcels that were sold last year," Bennett said in a statement. "This report illustrates that rules only matter to [the Obama] administration when they produce certain results."

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said that while he respects the report's authors, "their findings are insulting. If the policy of the Obama administration is to not develop America's energy resources, just come out and say it."

The 52 delayed leases will be studied to determine whether they can be developed in a way that takes into account drilling proposals and other resources, including wildlife, scenic values, ancient ruins and rock art, water and air quality and recreation.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said in a statement that "development of oil and gas on public lands should take a balanced approach, rather than the all-or-nothing dynamic that we've seen recently, "adding that he would like to see the 52 parcels reviewed in a timely manner.

The federal team spent nine days in southeastern Utah's desert, logging 14-hour days to test assumptions Utah BLM officials made.

"It has been a laboratory of learning," said Salazar, who promised reforms and a secretarial order in 30 days on how to proceed with public-land energy development.

The sale was the subject of a lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina when a University of Utah student, Tim DeChristopher, disrupted the auction by bidding and winning 14 parcels with no intention of paying, saying it was an act of civil disobedience to stop an illegal sale. He faces two felony charges.

The lawsuit has since widened to examine the resource-management plans finalized only days before the auction that allowed the leasing to go forward. Salazar said Urbina's rulings, including a temporary restraining order, indicated the BLM didn't properly follow federal law.

The 77 government-owned parcels, covering some 100,000 acres in eastern and southern Utah, were leased in the last weeks of the Bush administration. But the leases were immediately challenged by conservation groups, and in January a federal judge blocked drilling on the ground that the Interior Department had failed to follow its own procedures for reviewing the appropriateness of lands designated for oil and gas extraction.

An Interior Department review team then presented Secretary Ken Salazar with a recommendation that drilling be allowed to proceed on 17 of the 77 parcels. But it also said that the leases on eight parcels should be withdrawn and that 52 should be subjected to further study because of potential threats to wildlife and air and water quality.

In announcing Thursday that he had accepted those recommendations, Mr. Salazar said there was a “headlong rush” at the end of the Bush administration to lease the sites, without proper attention to environmental and aesthetic concerns. Some of the parcels are near Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Dinosaur National Monument.

The report of the review team “helps clear off the cloud that has hung over these 77 parcels since they were first proposed,” Mr. Salazar said, “and includes site-specific decisions on which should be leased and which — such as those near national parks — are simply not appropriate for development.”

In recommending lease withdrawal or further study for 60 of the parcels, the review team gave a variety of reasons, including possible damage to the habitat of sage grouse, which is being considered for endangered species protection, and to avoid the dust and noise pollution associated with drilling operations.

Conservation groups that had sued to block the leases applauded Mr. Salazar for weighing environmental effects in reconsidering the actions of the Bush administration. They expressed relief that most of the potential drilling sites would receive further scrutiny, and said they hoped that the leases on those sites would ultimately be withdrawn as well.

“Stopping the leasing of these treasured lands to protect them from devastation by oil and gas companies was the right thing to do,” said Amy Mall of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The Department of Interior should move forward with clean energy solutions that will protect our pristine wild lands and vital wildlife areas and cut carbon pollution.”

Jack N. Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the chief trade group for the industry, criticized the action, saying it was one of a series by the Obama administration to thwart oil and gas development.

“This troubling trend means less revenue to federal, state and local governments at a time when our nation is running a record deficit,” Mr. Gerard said. “It also means fewer jobs at a time our nation is headed toward 10 percent unemployment, and it means less domestic energy available when our economy recovers and demand rebounds.”

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.

SALT LAKE CITY — They want to drag Global Warming in front of a jury. Environmentalists want Global Warming in shackles, hangdog, beaten, with lawyers flipping through horrific pics of hurricanes slapping at South Asian shanties saying: “See?! He’s a menace to society and he needs to be put away!” They want to charge Global Warming with crimes against humanity.

That has never happened, and it seemed like a receding goal after a federal judge dented – but didn’t completely smash – one man’s hopes of putting Global Warming on trial … and also nicked that man’s hopes of keeping himself out of the big house.

In a hearing at the federal courthouse here, Judge Dee Benson heard arguments about whether Tim DeChristopher could put on a “choice of evils” defense, a legal maneuver usually reserved for Lifetime movies of the week. We’ve written about all this before.

Why is DeChristopher, a soft-spoken economics student at the University of Utah, in this mess? Because, in the waning days of the Bush Administration, he waltzed into an oil and gas lease auction and bought up $1.7 million worth of drilling rights. His sabotage delayed the auction long enough for Obama to get into office and revoke most of the parcels DeChristopher bought. Which, in the minds of DeChristopher’s supporters, saved the land and reduced Global Warming (a little tiny itty bitty bit), and so his misdeed was justified, they contend – like busting out of a burning prison, or shattering a window to rescue a baby locked in a car on a sunny day.

The government lawyer called bull-ony, as John Huber tried to block the “choice of evils” defense, along with any talk of science.

“Even if they can call experts, from Al Gore to Einstein, to say whatever they want to say,” Huber told the judge, “they have to show there was a real and imminent danger.” I wondered how they planned to get Einstein to answer a subpoena. But climate change, Huber said, is happening on “geologic time.” It’s not like a bus barreling down on you, in other words. It’s more like the way California is sinking into the ocean.

The judge said he was inclined not to let the “choice of evils” defense in, or “open this courtroom to a lengthy hearing on global warming.” How far do you go? he asked. Would it be OK for someone to stop a moving car – one that’s belching out CO2 – and destroy it? Think of the mayhem that opens up. The judge seemed to want to deal only with the facts of that day, but he gave DeChristopher’s lawyers 30 days to make a written case for the “choice of evils” defense.  

It was a hearing filled with big ideas and big rhetoric – the judge and DeChristopher’s lawyer even sparred on the meaning of the 1803 case Marbury v. Madison – but it seemed like the judge wanted to send the case down a path toward a run-of-the-mill fraud prosecution, which would be a serious downer for:

A) Anybody who likes a good circus trial.

B) This 27-year-old kid who could get 10 years in the joint.

C) Anyone who wants Global Warming acknowledged as a fact by a court of law.

See, Global Warming is this amorphous thing. Global Warming can’t put a tie on and sit on the stand.

DeChristopher can. (He seems to have only one suit, but he wears it well.) And he’s willing to do it. The government’s lawyers say he’s just doing this for attention, and they’re partly right. Cameras crowded around him outside the courthouse, reporters scribbled furiously. He wants to draw attention to climate change, whatever way he can.  

If Global Warming did show up to court, what would he look like? A big gas ball shooting flames out of one hand and rain out the other? A phantom drowning Bangladeshi goats who can only be slowed by hippies and yuppies firing low-flow toilets and Sigg water bottles at him?

If he gets his way, Global Warming could battle a masked DeChristopher – devouring IPCC reports the way Popeye ate spinach, flinging legal briefs and economic algorithms like Mr. Freeze shot ice. (Is this over the top? Nah. It was a day of hyperbole. DeChristopher is just a college kid, and yet his fast-talking lawyer compared him to Rosa Parks and Saint Francis of Assisi, and so painting him as a Batman character doesn’t seem a stretch.)

Of course, the real world is not a comic book. Global Warming, said one of DeChristopher’s lawyers, Patrick Shea, is made up of calculus equations and detailed observations. It’s not a simple thing. So Shea wants to show a jury a DVD of ice floes breaking up, to get them to concede that Global Warming is a threat. If they can get Global Warming into a courtroom as a fact to be discussed, he confirmed to me, they might be able to get that fact used in other, bigger, more important cases, and build a legal basis for people to combat climate change.

But will they get Global Warming into cuffs?

Said the judge: “I wouldn’t hold out a lot of hope.”

– Reilly Capps is a writer who can be reached at reillycapps@gmail.com.

By Christopher Smart

In the court of public opinion, Tim DeChristopher always has argued that he monkey-wrenched an oil and gas lease auction to combat the global climate crisis.

Now he wants to make that argument in federal court.

Attorneys for the University of Utah economics major have filed papers in U.S. District Court contending a federal judge should reject a government motion and allow their client to use his battle against global warming as a defense against two felony charges.

"The government is not entitled by way of motion to invade DeChristopher's attorney-client privileges," wrote the defense counsel, "or to violate his Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights to prepare his defense to serious criminal charges."

In a separate motion, DeChristopher's legal team is seeking information from federal prosecutors about whether other individuals or corporations ever had failed to pay for oil and gas lease bids and whether any of them were prosecuted.

Defense lawyer Pat Shea, who oversaw the Bureau of Land Management during the Clinton administration, said Tuesday the Constitution guarantees his client a "full and complete defense, rather than a trimmed defense when the trimming is done by the government."

DeChristopher pleaded not guilty in April to a two-count federal indictment stemming from a Dec. 19, 2008, BLM oil and gas lease auction in which he offered a total of $1.8 million -- admittedly with no intention of paying the money -- to win bids on 14 parcels near Arches and Canyonlands national parks.

In May, U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman filed a 27-page motion in federal court, arguing that a civil-disobedience defense --- such as fighting the climate crisis -- would inflame a jury and serve only to urge those empaneled not to follow the law.

"Accordingly, at trial," the prosecutor's motion states, "defense counsel should focus the jury's attention on facts and not try to confuse it with appeals based on emotion, sympathy or other similar conclusions."

Some legal experts have said the government is trying to wipe out the civil-disobedience defense because it fears some jurors would side with DeChristopher -- despite his acknowledgement that he placed bogus bids on the parcels.

At the same time, without that defense, experts have said the U. student may not stand a chance against the charges.

Shea said federal prosecutors have the burden to prove DeChristopher's guilt.

"They want a straight rendition of the facts that transpired on Dec. 19, 2008," Shea said. "We want a contextual examination of those events within the parameters of global warming."

The U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

A hearing on the motion is set for Sept. 25 before U.S. District Judge Dee Benson in Salt Lake City. A trial date is not yet scheduled.

csmart@sltrib.com

Tribune reporter Patty Henetz contributed to this story.

As the criminal case against me proceeds, I now have the opportunity for a much bigger impact.  My legal team and I will be arguing that my actions were justified by the moral imperative of stopping catastrophic climate change.  With the help of some of the world’s most respected climatologists, we will be proving in the courtroom that climate change is a real and serious threat to my future.  This can set a vital legal precedent for our responsibility to ensure a livable future for our children.  Dr. James Hanson has recently said that legal battles may be our best strategy for creating the paradigm shift we need to address the climate crisis.  This is especially relevant now that Congress has made it clear with the Waxman-Markey bill that they will continue putting the interests of the fossil fuel industry ahead of my generation.

To make this case as effectively as possible, I need your support.  My excellent attorneys, Patrick Shea, Ron Yengich, and Liz Hunt, are volunteering their time, but they estimate expenses for legal research, depositions and witnesses to exceed $100,000.  I’m learning firsthand that the quality of our justice system is based on the finances of the defendant.

Please send a donation today and pass this message on to all the people you know who care about the climate crisis.  I believe it is so crucial for this trial to face a jury that I have chosen to risk imprisonment by refusing any plea bargains.  Whether you can donate $70 or $7, your support is critical in making this a landmark case that turns the tides in our struggle for a livable future.

Gratefully,

Tim DeChristopher, “Bidder 70”

www.bidder70.org

Checks:

Tim DeChristopher Legal Defense Fund
c/o Pat Shea
215 S. State St., Suite 200,
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Tim DeChristopher, the University of Utah student who disrupted a federal oil and gas lease auction to protest potential environmental harm, now is scheduled to face a jury in late summer.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson has pushed back the trial, initially set to begin July 6, to Sept. 14 to give DeChristopher's lawyers more time to prepare for the case.

Defense attorneys Ron Yengich and Pat Shea face a Monday deadline to a federal prosecutor's motion that says they shouldn't be allowed to argue DeChristopher made bogus bids on oil and gas leases to combat the climate crisis. The reason, some legal experts assert, is the fear some jurors may buy his argument.

DeChristopher's lawyers had told the U.S. Attorney's Office they would base their arguments on a defense commonly known as "necessity" or "choice of evils."

The prosecution countered that such a defense would "encourage improper jury nullification." That means a jury could acquit DeChristopher regardless of his admission that he foiled the lease sale on purpose.

On Friday, DeChristopher said he looks forward to a jury trial. "There's a lot of injustice that needs to be brought to the surface regarding this oil and gas auction."

The U. economics major monkey-wrenched a U.S. Bureau of Land Management auction Dec. 19 in Salt Lake City. After he bid $1.8 million to win 14 parcels near Arches and Canyonlands national parks and drove up offers on several others, BLM agents removed him from the auction room for questioning.

DeChristopher, who has become a folk hero to many since the lease sale, acknowledged his false bidding, saying it was an act of civil disobedience in protest of Bush administration oil and gas policies that have worsened global climate disruption and threatened the health of everyone on the planet.

On April 1, a federal jury handed up a two-count felony indictment against him for violating the terms of the auction he promised to observe when he signed up to bid. He pleaded not guilty at his April 28 arraignment.

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.

Thank you for the question Senator Bennett.

What is your suggestion Mr. DeChristopher, and those of your supporters, as to how we are going to provide energy for the United States of America?
Download snippet (MP3) (Full interview here)

       Well, Senator, I'm glad you asked. 

       My suggestion is that we first stop subsidizing fossil fuels and level the playing field for renewables.  Then we start producing solar, wind and geothermal power as quickly as possible.  All of these technologies are proven and ready to go.  The baseload power will be provided by geothermal and concentrated solar power.  We will also need to build a smart grid to get the power to the people and deal with fluctuations.  This may be a challenge, but it is a challenge that America can certainly handle if we have good leadership.

        The other challenge is to stop burning oil.  The first step is to immediately start making plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and gradually transition to fully electric vehicles as we develop the infrastructure for charging stations.  Mr. Senator, I'd be glad to give you a ride down I-15 in a fully electric, zero emissions car any time you'd like.  Remember that in 1942, Detroit completely transitioned from making cars to making tanks and airplanes in 3 months.  If we have the same kind of leadership committed to protecting our children that we had back then, we can have the same transformation.

         In the process of doing all this, we will revive the American economy and create millions of jobs.  But of course it will not be easy.  It will take strong leadership and cooperation from all of us.  But for you to say that you are not willing to defend the survival of my generation because it's hard is unacceptable.  When faced with such a threat to our future, we need courageous leaders willing to do what's necessary even if it's hard.

          I think that a full presentation of how this transition is possible would make for a great public forum.  As I told your scheduler a few days ago, Jeff Robinson has agreed to host the forum, and we will work around any availabiltiy in your schedule.  I'm still awaiting a response from your scheduler.

--  Sincerely, Tim DeChristopher

What is your suggestion Mr. DeChristopher, and those of your supporters, as to how we are going to provide energy for the United States of America?

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.

But those concerns, he emphasized, do not eclipse his fears that inaction and apathy will lead to global, environmental degradation making the earth unlivable for future generations.

"Until Brett Tolman (the U.S. Attorney for Utah) can start dishing out penalties" on that level, DeChristopher vowed in front of enthusiastic supporters that "I am not going to back down."

With that, DeChristopher walked to the federal court house on Tuesday to make his first appearance on a pair of felonies that carry a potential of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000.

He pleaded not guilty, even though he has unabashedly admitted to crowds he deliberately "monkey-wrenched" a BLM auction of oil and gas leases last December as a matter of protest.

His actions, which earned him an escort by police and the designation as poster boy for acts of civil disobedience, also cultivated a cult following of sorts evidenced by the crowd of at least 200 attending a rally in his support.

"I think he's damn wonderful," declared one faithful supporter.

A banner stretched across the Main Library's plaza, declaring "Climate Justice is Survival: Now or Never."

Supporters carried signs with the number "70" — DeChristopher's bid number during the December auction in which the University of Utah student successfully bid on more than a dozen parcels.

For that, prosecutors filed one count of violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act. In his registration for the auction, DeChristopher also signed off on paperwork that misrepresented his intentions, according to charges. That resulted in one count of making a false statement.

At the rally, DeChristopher said the charges were meant to intimidate others from protest.

"They're trying to discourage you from resisting this path of destruction we're on," he said. "You might give up because there might be consequences," pointing out it is a "naive view to think we are going to give up."

Salt Laker Gary Widdison turned out to support DeChristopher at the rally, saying the university student is a tempest for the voice of protest linked to environmental awareness.

"There's been a real lack of awareness in this country and in our own community about the urgency of the global warming problem," Widdison said. "He's caught a lot of people's imagination and has drawn attention to something that is easily ignored."

Ashley Anderson, a fellow U. student, told the crowd that "we are all bidder 70. This isn't just about an auction, beautiful land and a mean old attorney," he said. "This is something much bigger. … This is a story about inspiration."

Later in court, federal prosecutor John Huber asked that DeChristopher be ordered to surrender his passport. Additional pretrial restrictions include possession of a firearm, which is routine.

Also routine for such appearances came the warning from Judge David Nuffer that communications between DeChristopher and anyone other than his attorneys could be used in his prosecution. That was just minutes after his impassioned speech at the library to supporters, many of whom sat on hard courtroom benches to listen to the charges.

A five-day trial was set to begin July 6.

Tim DeChristopher pleaded "not guilty" Tuesday to disrupting a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction in December and pledged to use his prosecution to attack policies he says are allowing climate change to careen out of control.

About 200 supporters rallied for the 27-year-old University of Utah student at the downtown Salt Lake City library and marched with him to the federal courthouse, where he was arraigned and his weeklong trial was scheduled to begin July 6.

DeChristopher faces up to 10 years in prison but he told his supporters that those consequences did not compare with the starvation and homelessness millions will suffer around the world if climate change is not stopped.

"Until [U.S. Attorney for Utah] Brett Tolman can start dishing out punishment penalties like that, I'm not going to back down, and I need to know you are not going to back down, either," he told a cheering crowd.

A grand jury indicted DeChristopher on two felony counts in connection with his bogus bid on oil and gas leases. He submitted winning bids on 13 parcels, though he never intended to pay the $1.8 million owed.

The two counts -- interfering with an auction with intent to "defeat" the federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act, and making false and fraudulent representations when registering for an auction -- also carry a $750,000 fine.

"They're trying to scare all of you," he told the crowd, many of them carrying

posters with his bidder number, 70. "They're trying to discourage all of you from standing up."

As DeChristopher walked to the courthouse at the head of a line of supporters, climate scientist James E. Hansen of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration walked alongside him much of the way. Hansen called DeChristopher's actions "extremely important." Hansen thanked him for providing a platform to test a new legal argument regarding climate change: the notion described in a letter by Thomas Jefferson that "we are using property that belongs to others, to our children and grandchildren and future generations."

Despite protesters' assertion that the case is about larger principles, Utah Petroleum Association President Lee Peacock says it's simply about rules and fairness.

"We abide by the rules that are in place," Peacock said of industry bidders. "We feel like all sides of any particular issue ought to abide by the rules."

He would not comment about DeChristopher's pleas, other than to say they did not surprise him.

Critics have said DeChristopher sabotaged a legal federal proceeding and deprived legitimate bidders of their right to secure leases. Supporters of DeChristopher point out that the lease sale was later halted by a federal judge and 77 of the most disputed parcel leases were halted by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Before starting off on the march to the federal courthouse, DeChristopher attorney Pat Shea urged everyone to obey traffic laws and behave once they reached the courthouse. Inside the courtroom, dozens watched silently.

Shea, a former BLM director under President Clinton, will be joined in DeChristopher's defense by noted defense attorney Ron Yengich.

At the prosecution's request, Magistrate Judge David Nuffer ordered DeChristopher to remain in the United States until his trial, and to surrender his passport to Yengich until further notice. He also set June 22 as deadline for any plea agreement.

Federal prosecutor John Huber said he saw the protest marchers before the arraignment, but he would not comment about their action or the case.

After the arraignment, Shea declined to discuss how the team will defend a man who admits disrupting the auction.

"That'll come out with trial," he said.

Shea told supporters after the court appearance that DeChristopher was meeting with a probation officer and getting fingerprinted. The attorney urged supporters to keep up their efforts. "We're going to have a long march."

Kelli Bellon of Salt Lake City was protesting outside the BLM offices Dec. 19, the day DeChristopher bid on the 13 parcels near Arches and Canyonlands

national parks.

"I can't imagine not being supportive of Tim after he's gone out on a limb for us," said the mother of two. "It's huge that he's being prosecuted."

University of Utah economics professor Hans Ehrbar said he was disappointed that more supporters didn't show up Tuesday.

"People are ready to clap if someone else acts, but the urgency has not yet sunk in."

It was as if he had generously decided against some ‘other’ option. Or maybe he was just pondering the Herculean task ahead; undoing The Bush Years.

From Orwellian executive orders, stem-cell research, torture, abstinence education to compromised federal appointments, broken countries, armies, educational and economic systems, the undoing will take years (short list).

Interior Secretary Salazar undid the illegal BLM auction at which Tim DeChristopher did his brilliant act of civil disobedience. Regrettably, US Attorney Brett Tolman, a Bush (Hatch) appointment, has decided to prosecute Tim on two felony charges, up to 10 years in prison.

I write today ask you for two things:

I write today ask you for two things:

• Send this to anyone you may know in Utah who can help get bodies to the pre-indictment rally in Salt Lake City on Tuesday morning.

We were ecstatic when another American Hero, James Hansen called to offer his support at Tim’s arraignment (another reason to recommend this post and urge more media).

• Please recommend this post in hopes of getting some national media attention on this travesty of justice motivated by the Oil Lobby and right-wing politics.

We simply cannot let Tim go to jail for THAT!

You will recall Tim DeChristopher is the University of Utah student who disrupted a last minute, illegal oil and gas lease <strike>give-away</strike> auction of pristine public land in Utah last December. Timeline here.

Never mind that the auction was declared illegal Never mind that no one has ever been prosecuted for not paying for BLM leases awarded at auction. Never mind that we raised the money to pay the leases and the BLM rejected it and is now demanding Tim pay an $81,000 fine.

Never mind that US Attorney Brett Tolman is on his way out and simply trying to establish his anti-environmental bonafides (like this guy) in order to run against Congressman Jim Matheson (D-UT).

With all the political under currents at play, it’s impossible to predict the outcome. We know Matheson has submitted candidate names for replacement US Attorneys. We also know that an unnamed oil lobbyist knew about the indictment before Tim’s lawyer did.

We as citizens of this planet understand that Tim's actions symbolize something much larger than a dysfunctional government auction but a corrupted system catering to old dirty energy. This fossil fuel pathway is the same one that will lead us over the climate tipping point if we do not ALL peacefully object to its destructive course. Our collective future is at stake, we must stand in solidarity with Tim to advocate for the world we want to see our children grow up in today or face the largest regret in human history tomorrow.

Thank you ALL (and a special thanks to Michael Raysses for his great and 'rescued diary' -Anatomy of a Clusterfuck).

I love bombast. And the apotheosis of my ardor is never more exquisitely achieved than when said affectation incorporates the perfect balance of sound and cadence, while laced with a patina of profanity. Though it would arguably be easy to view bombast as a writing style unto itself, sometimes one can achieve rank bombasticity in a single utterance. And no word reaches the soaring heights I am describing better than the king of all such expressions—ladies and gentlemen, tendered for your approval, the timeless classic—clusterfuck.

For the uninitiated, perhaps a quick definition is in order:

clusterfuck (plural clusterfucks)

1. (vulgar) A chaotic mess that might be compared to group sex, in which participants are so intertwined and intermingled that they might penetrate each other rather than their intended target. Its more precise usage describes a particular kind of Catch-22, in which multiple complicated problems mutually interfere with each other's solution. The looser usage, referring to any chaotic situation, probably prevails.

It bears mentioning that any clusterfuck is subject to the Law of Governmental Presence, which states that any garden variety clusterfuck is prone to inflate to epic proportion when conducted within eight nautical miles of any governmental agency, body, or representative. Given that the word probably traces its etymology to the military that almost stands to reason.

Lest there be any confusion, the term is oftentimes misunderstood. To prevent needless uncertainty as to when you’ve encountered a clusterfuck, let’s look at some related concepts.

For instance, a clusterfuck isn’t necessarily a disaster, although a series of ever-expanding clusterfucks can most definitely engender disaster (See Bush, George W.) A clusterfuck also isn’t the same as a shit storm, which is really nothing more than a small bunch of clusterfucks on their way to becoming a disaster. (For further clarification, see TARP. No, not the large sheet of waterproof material. The other one, the one with the bailout.)

The best way to appreciate a clusterfuck is to examine one. Here’s a great case in point: last December, the Bush administration conducted the functional equivalent of a fire sale of leases for oil and gas exploration in the southern and eastern parts of the state of Utah. Above and beyond the speed at which the auction was set up, a rate which didn’t allow the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s that are federally mandated in situations just like this, the scope of the sale was exceptionally broad. Buckling to pressure from a raft of environmental groups, the BLM reduced its initial offering and agreed to auction off only 150,000 acres of land.

Despite this magnanimous concession, the proposed sale was pilloried as a direct threat to certain pristine areas of the state. Areas that abutted national parks and red rock desert. Plots of land that could arguably be labeled sui generis. (Nothing screams ‘bombast’ quite like a well placed Latin phrase, does it?)

On the day of the auction, a 27 year-old economics student named Tim DeChristopher attended a protest march of the BLM sale. Sensing resigned despair in his fellow protesters, in a fit of anti-authoritarian brio DeChristopher decided to infiltrate the auction as a means of disrupting what he viewed to be not only a fraudulent sale, but one that would irretrievably damage national natural treasures.

Surprisingly for DeChristopher, gaining access to the proceedings proved to be relatively easy. Consistent with general clusterfuck theory, the BLM was in such a hurry to conduct this auction they neglected to enforce the standard security measures typically required. Tim showed his driver’s license, filled out a small form, was given a bidder’s paddle, and escorted in. (Personally, I can’t believe they didn’t make him at least demonstrate the Vulcan death grip or something.)

Once inside, Tim witnessed the auction process and soon was actually driving up the cost on parcels of land merely by waving his bidder’s paddle. But because his mission was to save the land, not just cost the cadre of oil and gas interests more money to have a shot at drilling and exploration, he decided to bring his ‘A’ game—Tim was in it to win it, as they say.

Which is exactly what he did. Tim proceeded to win 13 bids, totaling 22,000 acres, at a cost of $1.8 million. Then he was detained by the authorities because even they have limits as to how much they can and will contribute to a clusterfuck. (According to Tim, once apprehended, the officer who treated him most brusquely was a mall cop who worked in the building where the BLM office is housed, which only deepens my appreciation for the verisimilitude of that Paul Blart movie.)

Public support sprung up for Tim faster than an oil speculator at a hastily prepared sale of oil and gas leases. Within a very short time, he was able to raise $100,000 through his website, www.Bidder70.org, to cover the cost of the initial payment to the BLM for the leases in question, as well as for what was sure to involve legal defense costs.

Then on February 4^th, in a move that to the casual observer appears to run contrary to the concept of the clusterfuck, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar invalidated the oil and gas leases that had been auctioned off, which for all intents and purposes could arguably be construed as the government’s admission of “my bad.”

But keep your eye on the bouncing ball, folks, because part of what defines a clusterfuck is the momentary appearance that sanity has taken hold, which is exactly what happened here. The leases in question were voided. A single person with more heart than all the people in the auction that day felled the Goliath that is the oil and gas industry not with a slingshot and stone but instead with a bidder’s paddle and a flick of his wrist. Nothing was destroyed, defiled, or otherwise desecrated. Unless of course you count the derailed locomotive of greed embodied by the oil and gas industries that were there expecting uncontested whacks at the piñata placed so generously before them by the Bush administration.

So where, pray tell, is the clusterfuck?

In what has to be an example of the worst April Fool’s joke imaginable, on April 1, Tim was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah for two counts of violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Act. (A lesser charge of wearing a flannel shirt to a government auction was considered but dropped.)

Let’s pause for a moment to review, shall we? The government conducts a highly questionable sale of oil and gas leases that it ultimately voids, yet later they decide to criminally prosecute the man who provided them the opportunity to reconsider and correct their reckless conduct by wielding a bidder’s paddle? (Paging a Mr. Kafka, Mr. Franz Kafla!)

And then in a move that redefines craptacular, on April 3, the BLM levied an $81,000 fine against Tim. Mind you, this is the same BLM that refused Tim’s payment of $45,000 dollars on the fraudulent bids he made because those payments were offered “too late.”

Right about now you’re asking yourself “what’s that smell?” It’s not teen spirit, and it’s not napalm in the morning—it’s a Clusterfuck, with a capital C. Said Clusterfuck will reach its surreal denouement on April 28 when Tim is arraigned.

Now it’s safe to say that we as a nation have become used to diminished expectations. Even with the election of a man who is actually qualified to run the country, we know better than to expect much that even remotely approaches positive from our government and its agencies. But what we can’t condone is when our government is guilty of what in its best light looks like malfeasance, especially when they are given a chance to grant themselves a reprieve by a citizen who has the balls, heart, and spirit to act consonant with his moral compass, a device conspicuously not consulted in the government’s decision making process.

I have given up expecting bureaucracies like the BLM to actually do that which they are created to, which in this case is manage federal energy sources in an environmentally sound way. (My italics.) What galls me most deeply is the wholesale lack of respect for resources present in this case. (Um, I don’t know whose italics those are.) And by resources, the untapped oil and gas that lies beneath the ground in Utah aren’t all I am referring to. I am talking about the very real, immeasurable and invaluable human resource of people like Tim DeChistopher! (OK, that’s definitely my exclamation point.)

If we are ever going to extricate ourselves from the wringer we have wedged ourselves into, we need people like Tim DeChristopher—inventive, committed, and

compassionate—not in jail, his contributions to society neutralized, while sapping limited resources by being incarcerated—but in the vanguard of the vital democracy we remember ourselves to be.

It’s been said that two wrongs don’t make a right. This case proves an exception to that rule. The BLM failed in its responsibility to adhere to federally imposed environmental guidelines before holding the auction. Tim, by his own admission, represented himself to be a qualified bidder, which he wasn’t. When the Department of the Interior voided the sale, the two negatives perpetrated by both parties multiplied to create a positive—the lands in question are safe for the time being. The decision to prosecute Tim is the perfect final touch for those who like a little closure with their clusterfuck. That Brett Tolman, the U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting this case, wants to participate in some perverse act of reverse-alchemy by spinning political straw out of environmental gold is regrettable. The real focus is on what we do to support Tim in this scenario.

Tim told me that what moved him to act as he did was the realization that he could actually handle serving time to save the imperiled lands. What he couldn’t live with was waking up ten years down the road, seeing those lands ransacked by the oil and gas industries, and live with the knowledge that he had the chance to do something about it and didn’t.

Well, we have a chance to endorse Tim right here, right now. Go to www.Bidder70.org. Make a donation, write your representative. And if that leaves you feeling like you want to do more, then go to www.PeacefulUprising.org and really throw your oars in the water. To do anything less is beyond wrong—it’s clusterfucked.

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.

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.

Please bring everyone!    11am SLC Library Plaza (map)

Meet and hear Mr. Hansen speak at 11 a.m. at the Salt Lake City Library Plaza (map).

Then we will march with him and Tim to the arraignment at 11:45 a.m. (Frank E. Moss Courthouse in Salt Lake City (map)) then back to the Library to for more discussion with Mr. Hansen and DeChristopher.

Schedule of the events with Hansen and DeChristopher:

Monday, 6 p.m.:          Hansen talks with Radioactive, KRCL’s public affairs program.

Monday, 7:30 p.m.:     Hansen will speak at U of U’s Social and Behavioral Science auditorium

Tuesday, 11 a.m.:       Rally begins with speakers and music at the SLC Library Plaza.

Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.:  March (route) to Frank E. Moss Courthouse for DeChristopher’s arraignment.

Tuesday, about noon: Hansen will speak at rally for DeChristopher at the SLC Library Plaza.

Tuesday, 6 p.m.:        Hansen will speak at Utah Valley University in the library auditorium (map).

Tim DeChristopher is the University of Utah student is facing two felony charges for his nonviolent disruption of an illegitimate oil and gas lease auction of public land in Utah last December.

Even though a federal court and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar rescinded the auction because of its illegitimacy, Brett Tolman, the United States attorney for Utah, has decided to charge DeChristopher with two felonies, which could mean up to 10 years in prison.

SALT LAKE CITY — James Hansen (Sixty Minutes interview), one of the world’s leading scientists studying climate change, will speak at a rally in support of Tim DeChristopher on Tuesday, April 28, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Salt Lake City library plaza.(map)

The event is built around DeChristopher’s arraignment at 11:45 a.m. at the Frank E. Moss Courthouse in Salt Lake City. The University of Utah student is facing two felony charges for his nonviolent disruption of an illegitimate oil and gas lease auction of public land in Utah last December.

Even though a federal court and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar rescinded the auction because of its illegitimacy, Brett Tolman, the United States attorney for Utah, has decided to charge DeChristopher with two felonies, which could mean up to 10 years in prison.

Schedule of the events with Hansen and DeChristopher:

Monday, 6 p.m.:          Hansen talks with Radioactive, KRCL’s public affairs program.

Monday, 7:30 p.m.:     Hansen will speak at U of U’s Social and Behavioral Science auditorium

Tuesday, 11 a.m.:       Rally begins with speakers and music at the SLC Library Plaza.

Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.:  March (route) to Frank E. Moss Courthouse for DeChristopher’s arraignment.

Tuesday, about noon: Hansen will speak at rally for DeChristopher at the SLC Library Plaza.

Tuesday, 6 p.m.:        Hansen will speak at Utah Valley University in the library auditorium (map).

...........................................................................................................................................

Tim DeChristopher is the University of Utah student is facing two felony charges for his nonviolent disruption of an illegitimate oil and gas lease auction of public land in Utah last December.

Even though a federal court and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar rescinded the auction because of its illegitimacy, Brett Tolman, the United States attorney for Utah, has decided to charge DeChristopher with two felonies, which could mean up to 10 years in prison.

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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Note: It is our hope that someone will write a great piece worthy of the "Recommended Diaries" list on Dailykos.com.   Please contact Cliff with for help or questions.
 

Timeline

Auction -  Dec 19, 2008

12.19.2008 : Tim DeChristopher, bidder 70, wins $2.7mm oil & gas leases at BLM auction in Utah.

12.22.2008 : First Democracy Now! Interview

12.31.2008: Tim DeChristopher announced that he would pay the U.S. Bureau of Land Management $45,000 to hold the 13 lease parcels he won in a Dec. 19 Salt Lake Tribune

Bidder70.org Rasies $100k -  Jan 09, 2009,

01.09.2009 : Tim announced (Tim's statement) that we had raised the $45k.  We had actually raised over 100k.

01.17.2009 : Saturday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent Bill Whitaker devoted a full very positive story about Tim. Newsbusters

Utah Now Story (MUST WATCH)

02.04.2009 : Interior Secretary Salazar invalidates BUSH/BLM oil & gas leases auctioned on December19th. LA Times Salt Lake Tribune
Brett L. Tolman, United States Attorney District of Utah issue a statement (PDF) same day basically saying this doesn't change anything. Charges will be brought.

02.04.2009 : Tim launches www.peacefuluprising.org "I am directing my efforts to building Peaceful Uprising to encourage, train, support and defend those who will take nonviolent direct action to defend our future."

 In a statement Wednesday evening, Salazar noted the "serious allegations of fraud by a bidder in a BLM oil and gas lease sale. ... BLM will not tolerate future conduct which undermines the integrity of the bid process." Salt Lake Tribune

Indictment Apr 1, 2009

4.1.2009 :  A grand jury indicts Tim DeChristopherwith two counts of violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Act. See Indictment Dechristopher v Tolman April 1st 2009

Fox 13: One count was for a violation of Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act. While the second, was for knowingingly making false and fraudulent statements by signing up for a bidder in the land auction. Video

KSL: The indictment alleges DeChristopher schemed to defeat the purpose of that act and knowingly interfered with a competitive bidding process. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $500,000 fine.[snip] From the day in December he disrupted a BLM auction for oil and gas leases, DeChristopher said he was willing to go to jail. [snip]

After the auction disruption, Rep. Mike Noel of Kanab sponsored a bill that makes it a state crime to bid at a land-lease auction with no intent to pay. On the phone Wednesday night, Noel told KSL 5 News DeChristopher "ought to be prosecuted for stealing money from the state of Utah and the school kids of Utah."

"Money from the leases goes to the state's school fund. DeChristopher and his attorneys contend no money was lost because the bids were invalidated."

4.3.2009 Amy Goodman Democracy Now! Interview

04.03.2009 : KUTV runs first story discussing Tolman's tenuous political position vis a vis Tim's case. KUTV Video

04.03.2009 : Tim sued / Fined by BLM 81k. Breaks over the weekend misses news cycles.

04.06.2009 : First real media questioning of Tolman: Republican U.S. Attorney likely not long for the job

04.06.2009 : DeChristopher Soap Opera Revs up Again (BackPacker) - Good narrative with backdrop

KCPW Local Public Radio has been following most closely

State Lawmaker Says Activist's Actions Carry Consequences But Prison Time Too Harsh

Posted Apr 06, 2009 01:50 PM by Jeff Robinson

Since fraudulently bidding at an oil and gas lease auction in order to protect sensitive Utah lands from natural resource production, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher has received an outpouring of community support. But last week, he was charged with two federal felonies for his actions. A state lawmaker says DeChristopher needs to learn there are consequences for what he did.

Politics Up Close Excerpt: Environmentalist Tim DeChristopher

Posted Apr 06, 2009 08:14 AM by Jeff Robinson

In this excerpt from Friday's Politics Up Close, environmentalist Tim DeChristopher, who fraudulently bid during a controversial oil and gas lease auction in December, discusses what's happened since that auction. He was charged with two federal felonies last week.

Download this audio file

Politics Up Close: Environmental Activist Tim DeChristopher

Posted Apr 03, 2009 12:44 PM by Jeff Robinson

Tim DeChristopher has gained national recognition for fraudulently bidding in a controversial lease auction late last year, and now, he's been charged with two felonies. What does the future hold for this young activist, and would he have done anything differently? DeChristopher joins the show.

Download this audio file

Salazar Voids Sale of Oil and Gas Leases in Utah National Parks

Posted Feb 04, 2009 02:00 PM by Eric Ray

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced his decision today to direct the Bureau of Land Management not to accept bids for oil and gas leases made during a controversial December 19 lease sale on 77 parcels of land near several high profile national parks in Utah.

About Brett Tolman

04/05/2009 "Prosecutor: Monkey-wrencher won't do long prison time
 

U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman said that, while he recognized people may have deeply held views on government behavior, they should express them lawfully. ...."Rather than follow the rule of law, this defendant has, in his own words, repeatedly said he intended to disrupt the lease-bidding process," Tolman said. "Today's indictment is our response to his decision.

Now that the charges have come and DeChristopher's arraignment has been set for April 28, Tolman said he can negotiate with the U. student's lawyers: Pat Shea, a former BLM director, and Ron Yengich, a prominent Utah defense attorney.

Shea wouldn't comment Friday on any deal discussions, but questioned why Tolman was talking about sentences when they are a judge's job.

"To quote 'Alice in Wonderland,'" he said, "the story gets curiouser and curiouser."

Tim DeChristopher's arraignment is scheduled for April 28 in Salt Lake City's federal court.

04.06.2009 Tolman: Republican U.S. Attorney likely not long for the job

So it's no coincidence that Utah's young federal lawman launched a high-profile case against a 27-year-old monkey-wrencher with a big news conference one day last week. The next, he called The Salt Lake Tribune to schedule a one-on-one, damage-control interview to soften his image.

 BLM, Lease Info, Maps

BLM General Announcement about the sale.
Information regarding any and all specific parcels up for lease  - This site contains a map showing the various parcels. Please note that once again, a parcel is not necessarily one that can and will produce oil. That risk is left to the company that obtains the lease and then decides to drill, a quite expensive business.

Senator Bob Bennett, R-Utah, says he’ll fight to get natural gas leases back for Utah.

The parcels were offered at BLM auction in December. Tim DeChristopher disrupted the auction with phony bids, for which he now faces criminal charges. A judge issued a restraining order against the auction, and then Secretary of the Interior Richard Salazar withdrew the parcels.

Now, Bennett has put a hold on David J. Hayes, the man the Obama administration wants for the number two position at the Department of Interior. The Senate may not approve Hayes over Bennett’s hold.

“The royalties on those leases could be worth hundreds-of-millions of dollars to the state,” Bennett says.

Tim DeChristopher says the leases need to be stopped. “We’re so behind on climate change. The energy industry has got everything it wants. We’re in a desperate situation, and we need to cut way back on fossil fuels,” he said.

Paul Foy
Business Writer
The Associated Press
Salt Lake City
Office 801-322-3405
Cell 801-450-1224

Prosecutor: Monkey-wrencher won't do long prison time

'Curious' case » 'That's good news,' says DeChristopher, whose clean record would help if he is convicted.

By Patty Henetz, The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:04/03/2009 08:08:32 PM MDT

 Tim DeChristopher has no chance of serving 10 years in federal prison for monkey-wrenching an oil and gas lease sale as an act of civil disobedience.

So says his prosecutor, who predicts the University of Utah student won't even serve five years if convicted of two felonies for placing bogus bids at a December auction.

In a rare interview about a pending case, U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman said Friday he already is talking plea deals with DeChristopher's lawyers -- something he maintains had to wait until the grand jury handed up Wednesday's indictment.

"There's a perception of heavy-handedness," Tolman said. But since DeChristopher has no criminal record, he added, "I don't think he'll get anywhere near five years."

While any sentence would be up to a judge, the prosecutor said maximum punishments are rare -- especially for defendants with clean slates.

"That's good news," DeChristopher said Friday.

But the environmental activist re-emphasized that he has been bracing for punishment since he picked up paddle No. 70 and proceeded to win bids on 14 parcels with no intention of paying the $1.8 million for them.

DeChristopher has trumpeted all along that he intended to short-circuit the Salt Lake City auction to prevent oil and gas drilling near Utah national parks and to bring attention to larger global issues.

"I feel very strongly about the threat to our participatory democracy," he said. "Defending our democracy is certainly something worth going to prison for -- as is defending our climate."

During Friday's interview in his Salt Lake City office, Tolman sought to tamp any notion that prosecuting the 27-year-old economics major is politically motivated.

"The easy road was not to prosecute. The political road was not to prosecute. If we chose not to prosecute," he said, "we would have been caving to strong political pressure."

The prosecutor, a Bush appointee who has been U.S. attorney for Utah since October 2006, said rumors are circulating about his future and a potential political campaign.

"I'm not running for Congress," Tolman insisted. "I'm trying to do this job, and make decisions that are based solely on facts and the law."

Some wonder why DeChristopher is being prosecuted at all since Interior Secretary Ken Salazar shelved 77 of the lease parcels offered in the Dec. 19 auction. Before that, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina enjoined the Bureau of Land Management from leasing those parcels under a lawsuit filed by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and several other conservation and historic-preservation groups.

Tolman said he couldn't take those developments into consideration in the case. Rather, he said, he had to apply federal law and measure the defendant's intent.

Oil and gas bidders have complained that DeChristopher's actions harmed them financially, but Tolman said even that doesn't matter. "There could be no damage, [but] still criminal violations."

Now that the charges have come and DeChristopher's arraignment has been set for April 28, Tolman said he can negotiate with the U. student's lawyers: Pat Shea, a former BLM director, and Ron Yengich, a prominent Utah defense attorney.

Shea wouldn't comment Friday on any deal discussions, but questioned why Tolman was talking about sentences when they are a judge's job.

"To quote 'Alice in Wonderland,'" he said, "the story gets curiouser and curiouser."
Court date looms

Indicted monkey-wrencher Tim DeChristopher's arraignment is scheduled for April 28 in Salt Lake City's federal court.

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

Drilling » U. student hoped for mercy from Obama's team, but no luck.

By Patty Henetz, The Salt Lake Tribune Posted: 04/01/2009 08:41:01 PM MDT

Tim DeChristopher -- the monkey-wrenching University of Utah student who caused an environmental sensation by disrupting a high-profile oil and gas lease auction -- pinned his hopes on President Barack Obama to get him out of trouble.

But shortly after a federal grand jury handed up a two-count felony indictment Wednesday against the 27-year-old economics major, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar crushed any notion of help from Washington.

The Bureau of Land Management, Salazar warned, "will not tolerate future conduct which undermines the integrity of the bid process."

DeChristopher said he didn't regret bidding on 13 drilling parcels near Arches and Canyonlands with no intention of paying the $1.8 million for them. But he did believe the Obama administration might see the seriousness and morality of his mission to protect the future against global climate disruption.

"Those hopes were misplaced," he said. "Now my hopes rest on a jury of my peers."

DeChristopher faces up to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines under charges he organized and participated in a scheme to "defeat" federal law and made a fraudulent statement when he registered as a bidder at the BLM's Dec. 19 lease sale in Salt Lake City.

U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman said that, while he recognized people may have deeply held views on government behavior, they should express them lawfully.

"Rather than follow the rule of law, this defendant has, in his own words, repeatedly said he intended to disrupt the lease-bidding process," Tolman said. "Today's indictment is our response to his decision."

On the day of the auction, DeChristopher signed a bidder-registration form that warned it is a federal crime to "knowingly and willfully make any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements" and cited the maximum penalties: up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

"DeChristopher represented himself as a bona fide bidder," Tolman said, "when in fact he was not."

In addition to being charged with filing a false bidder form, DeChristopher is accused of violating the federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987, which set up rules for competitive bidding.

DeChristopher remains free, and Tolman has yet to issue a summons for his arraignment. His lawyers are noted Utah defense attorney Ron Yengich and Pat Shea, a BLM director under the Clinton administration.

Shea, who will continue to seek a plea deal, said he knew of previous instances in which individuals didn't pay up for their bids. "To my knowledge," he said, "there were no prosecutions."

The December auction had been in an uproar since Election Day, when the BLM posted a list of sales covering 360,000 acres of southern and eastern Utah redrock desert. The agency pulled some of the most disputed parcels. But conservation organizations said 77 parcels on 103,000 acres still were too close to Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument and relic-rich Nine Mile Canyon.

A federal judge stopped the BLM from proceeding on those leases, and Salazar shelved them in February, accusing the Bush administration of rushing in its final days to drill. Salazar said Obama's Interior Department wants a more balanced approach that takes in environmental concerns along with petroleum industry needs.

But Salazar showed no mercy when it came to DeChristopher's bogus bidding.

"The indictment announced today contains serious allegations of fraud by a bidder in a BLM oil and gas lease sale," the Interior boss said. "In order to have a fair and orderly process for these sales, it is essential that all participants follow the prescribed rules."

DeChristopher, who has catapulted to folk-hero fame in environmental circles, said he didn't oppose oil and gas development on principle but did take a stand against harming sensitive public lands.

"This auction was a fraud against the American public and a threat to my future," he said. "My action exposed the unjust nature of that auction."

An industry representative said she has heard the same argument many times.

"There's a perception that natural-gas development in Utah is going to destroy the land, and that drastic action is necessary," said Kathleen Sgamma, government-affairs director for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States. "If he understood that it's a small and temporary impact, and that the land is reclaimed to its original state, then maybe he wouldn't have felt compelled to take this action."
A monkey-wrencher's tale

At a Dec. 19 auction, Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old University of Utah economics student, bid on 13 oil and gas lease parcels covering 22,000 acres near Arches and Canyonlands with no intention of paying.

On Feb. 4, President Barack Obama's Interior secretary, Ken Salazar, shelved 77 contested lease parcels, including the ones DeChristopher won, and scolded the Bush administration for rushing reviews of the disputed sites.

On Wednesday, DeChristopher was indicted on two felony counts. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Did DeChristopher's outspokenness seal his fate?

Monkey-wrencher » Supporters say he had to speak out -- that was the whole point -- even at the risk of charges.

By Patty Henetz, The Salt Lake Tribune
Posted:04/02/2009 09:15:01 PM MDT - print version 30 days

All along, Tim DeChristopher has acknowledged -- some say bragged about -- placing bogus bids at a federal lease auction in an attempt to thwart oil and gas drilling near Utah national parks.

U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman even pointed to DeChristopher's public remarks in announcing a two-count felony indictment Wednesday against the 27-year-old University of Utah economics major.

So should DeChristopher, who has risen to folk-hero status among some in the green community, have avoided the limelight after winning bids on 13 parcels with no intention of paying the $1.8 million he owed for them?

No, his supporters say. The monkey-wrenching activist's outspokenness was necessary, they argue, to focus attention on the larger threat of global climate disruption and Bush administration energy policies that they say favored the wealthy few at the expense of children not yet born.

"I saw Tim's peaceful act of resistance as the only real action to create a livable future," said Ashley Anderson, 30, a U. student. "Peaceful resistance, civil disobedience, have always been a hallmark of effective and essential change in our society. The stakes now are indeed the fate of the planet."

DeChristopher has always said that placard-waving protests are not enough and that he took his actions to help save the environment and future generations. Now he faces up to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines on charges he plotted and participated in a scheme to "defeat" federal law and made a fraudulent statement when he registered as a bidder at the BLM's Dec. 19 lease sale in Salt Lake City.

His arraignment has been set for April 28 before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Nuffer in Salt Lake City's federal court.

Fellow student Jessi Carrier, 23, is one of about 30 of DeChristopher's friends and supporters in the group PeacefulUprising.org who stayed up late Wednesday to talk about the politics of Tolman's move, which Interior Secretary Ken Salazar buttressed with a hard-line statement about observing the rule of law.

"We didn't spend too much time talking about the indictment. Tim is part of the group, not the whole of the group," Carrier said. "Environmentalism in the past has focused on the scenic wildness of the land. We're talking about humans' dependence on the environment for survival."

In a statement Wednesday evening, Salazar noted the "serious allegations of fraud by a bidder in a BLM oil and gas lease sale. ... BLM will not tolerate future conduct which undermines the integrity of the bid process."

But President Barack Obama's Interior secretary also has made serious allegations against Bush policies, which allowed the December auction to go forward. Salazar shelved 77 of the most-disputed parcels for further study.

A federal judge who halted progress on the lease sale indicated in his ruling that the BLM hadn't obeyed federal environmental laws.

Pat Shea, a former BLM director and one of DeChristopher's attorneys, says those two actions wiped out potential claims of damage to the other bidders.

Tolman insisted the charges weren't about politics.

"Rather than follow the rule of law," he said, "this defendant has, in his own words, repeatedly said he intended to disrupt the lease-bidding process."

But Carrier sees politics at the root of the case.

"We're fighting entrenched policy, powerful corporate entities and the government," she said. "[Tolman's] action looks heavy-handed in the context of the auction."
How the case got here

» The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced on Election Day last November that it would sell oil and gas leases on 360,000 acres in southern and eastern Utah, drawing scores of protests. The BLM eventually trimmed the sale to 149,000 acres, but many parcels still were close to nationals parks and wilderness-study areas.

» At a Dec. 19 auction, Tim DeChristopher won 13 lease parcels covering 22,000 acres near Arches and Canyonlands with no intention of paying the $1.8 million he owed.

» On Feb. 4, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar shelved 77 contested lease parcels, including the ones DeChristopher won, and scolded the Bush administration for rushing reviews of the disputed sites.

» DeChristopher was indicted Wednesday on two felony counts.

» On Thursday, The Associated Press reported that a dozen high bidders have appealed -- to the Interior Board of Land Appeals -- Salazar's decision to scrap the 77 leases sold. Salazar says the parties should take their complaints to federal court.
 

A fight's brewing between Utah Democrats and Republicans over the U.S. Attorney for Utah.

Usually when parties change power in the White House, United States attorneys change too but Utah Republicans, led by Senator Orrin Hatch Say Brett Tolman has done an excellent job and both Utah and justice will be served if he stays where he is.

Wednesday Tolman announced he will bring two felony charges against Tim Decristopher, who’s accused of ruining a Bureau of Land Management oil lease auction last year but placing millions in fake bids.
The Decristopher [sic] case is one reason Democrats are agitating for a new, Democratic United States attorney for Utah. They think a Democrat would be less punitive toward Dechristopher.
“Maybe saner minds will prevail,” says state Democratic chair Wayne Holland. “There ought to be some plea deal out of that.”

Jim Matheson, Utah’s only Democrat in congress has interviewed people who want the job but President Obama is moving slowly and no one knows when he’ll make a decision about Utah Read on...
.

 

AMY GOODMAN: How do you prepare for ten years in prison, Tim?

TIM DeCHRISTOPHER: That’s a good question. I think it’s something that I’ve been preparing myself for kind of by preparing myself for how severe the consequences are that we’re facing by staying on the path that we’re on right now. I mean, the first time that an IPCC scientist put her hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m sorry my generation failed yours,” you know, that really shook me to the core and made me realize just how late in the game we are with dealing with climate change and how dark and desperate of a future we might be looking at. And I think that by preparing for that, preparing for that completely chaotic and ugly future that we’re already on track for, helps me to [inaudible] prison as something that I can deal with, because I’ve already started preparing myself to deal with those catastrophic effects that we might be looking at. Read transcript.

US Attorney Brett Tolman (Utah) has leveled formal charges. Read Tim's response.

This will be a political show trial at taxpayer expense.

Please join www.bidder70.org to support Tim's brave action.   If you are a DKOS diarist, please go there and recommend this post.

A grand jury indicted Tim DeChristopher this afternoon. He's charged with two counts of violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Act.

Utah Now (full story): He's the 27-year-old college student and environmental activist who disrupted a public land auction last month by bidding up several parcels intended for oil and gas development. Join us as we take a closer look at what some are calling a case of modern-day monkey wrenching.

Please donate to Tim's Legal Defense

Video

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

Sec 9902 (b) (3) A Federal emission permit may not be sold, exchanged or otherwise transferred.

Really?

If this is the real deal legislation we've been waiting for we need to unleash everything we've got.  This is in the House Energy and Commerce Committee right now.  Jim Matheson is a key member of that committee.  If we want his to do anything for this bill, we need to moving.  If it is a strong bill, his committee will probably try to castrate it, so we need to be on them like fat kids on cake.

Here is the full original text.

The shifting demographics of the climate movement

It wasn’t all that long ago that I—crisp Environmental Studies degree in my back pocket, working my way through the climate and sustainability scene—lived with the low-grade anxiety of always being the youngest person in the room. At conferences and meetings, during interviews and actions, I tended to be aware of my age. The least experienced member on the panel; the “greenest” (and not in the environmental sense) pen on the press list. Today, closing fast on 30, it feels as though I might be getting too old to be relevant in the field.

Two weekends ago, over 12,000 people descended on Washington D.C. to be a part of PowerShift 09, the largest gathering of climate change activists this country has ever seen. With a few exceptions, the only folks there older than I were parents chaperoning ultra-engaged teenagers.

This is all to say that there’s been something of a foundation-shaking shift (the D.C. event’s name is clever on a few levels) in the climate movement in the past five years or so. But this crucial point has largely been lost on the media, the general public, and, in fact, on the old green guard. It hasn’t been lost on the politicians, though. After the youth bloc came out in record numbers this past election, representing over 20 percent of the entire electorate, the vast majority of whom rank climate change and energy issues at the top of their voting priorities, Washington has started to pay attention.

This is the burgeoning “youth climate movement,” as it’s coming to be known. Though anyone involved will tell you that it’s much more; these young activists are actually, as Macalester College senior Timothy Den Herder-Thomas put it, “youth leaders who are coming together to promote a new vision of economic recovery, social justice, and energy security founded on a stable climate and sustainable communities nationwide.”

Worldwide, actually. PowerShift 09 hosted representatives not only from all fifty states, but also from every Canadian province and twelve foreign countries. Not to mention a string of coordinated events overseas, all of which are gearing up towards the critical Copenhagen international climate conference in December.

And there’s more to it than PowerShift alone. The event was brought to life by the Energy Action Coalition, an alliance of 50 regional organizations and over 700 local grassroots groups devoted to “bold, just, and comprehensive action to stop global warming and create a just and sustainable energy future.” Energy Action was founded just five years ago by climate champion Billy Parish at the ripe old age of 21 (after dropping out of Yale to focus his efforts on building this youth movement), and already counts hundreds of thousands in its ranks. Leading up to the November elections, EAC’s Power Vote campaign organized over 350,000 young Americans who pledged their vote “for clean and just energy.”

What’s next? In April, when Congress breaks and elected officials head home, youth leaders will be waiting for them in town hall meetings coordinated by Focus the Nation in nearly every Congressional district around the country. Meanwhile, 350.org is reaching out around the world, specifically seeking out student and youth groups to organize around the largest ever “Global Day of Climate Action” on October 24th. (Full disclosure: the kids running 350.org—and Step It Up before that—carry the same Environmental Studies degree from the same college that I do, though theirs are much crisper.)

What really excites a suddenly-somehow-old guy like me about all of this, is that the youth climate movement is built on something fundamental that environmentalism has long lacked: diversity. Inclusive by nature, there’s a diversity of constituents coming from all races, religions, and backgrounds, from city centers and farmlands and suburbs and tribal reservations alike. But they also employ a “diversity of tactics,” as Jesse Jenkins writes in a powerful three-part recap of PowerShift.

Step It Up, for instance, launched from a couple of laptops and a $10,000 grant and, using nothing more than social media savvy and a bit of code. It culminated with over 1,400 simultaneous old-fashioned rallies across the country, all calling upon legislatures to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. That day, then-presidential candidates Clinton, McCain, Edwards, and Obama all pledged a commitment to those numbers. Nearly two years later, Obama’s still using them as his carbon targets.

During PowerShift, attendees got text updates steering them to classrooms for Congressional lobbying training sessions. The next day over 6,000 freshly-trained youth followed their SMS’s to over 350 face-to-face meetings with House and Senate officials.  It was the largest day of lobbying in the country’s history.   “These young leaders,” Jenkins writes, “draw on time-tested community organizing techniques as well as a suite of cutting-edge, 21st century technologies to unite the movement, grow at a rapid pace, and secure climate and clean energy victories.” The old green guard should be taking notes.

Photos by flickr user whateva87

This weekend, 32 young people (and me) are traveling to our nation's capitol to attend a massive environmental conference called Power Shift.  The message that is being communicated through this mass gathering is, No More Un-sustainable ways!  We Must Change or, as NOAA has pointed out, it will be too late to reverse the climage change damage.  Translation: death of species, absence of water, breathable air. 

Please support Peaceful Uprising.  Make your own statement about your willingness to participate, and then, stand up in your own community.  Demand that your local governing bodies change their ways - stop expanding oil, gas & coal.  Start expanding solar, wind & geothermal, before it's too late.  The donate button on the front page is where you can start.  Thank you from the kids & me,  Julianne

Scolding the Bush administration for rushing in its final days to drill near treasured Utah national parks, President Barack Obama's new Interior secretary Wednesday shelved oil and gas leases sold during a chaotic December auction.

Ken Salazar's action -- which drew cheers from conservationists and sneers from industry representatives -- triggered questions about the validity of costly land-use plans governing development and recreation on federal lands in the Beehive State, the fate of a University of Utah student who sabotaged the disputed lease auction and the future of drilling in the West.

But while he canceled the sale of the leases, still the object of an ongoing lawsuit, Salazar refused to put them permanently off-limits to drilling. "I don't necessarily believe all 77 of these oil and gas leases won't go into development at some time."

That would happen, Salazar indicated, only after Interior reviews how the U.S. Bureau of Land Management crafted at least three of its six long-range blueprints for 11 million acres of southern and eastern Utah.

These multimillion-dollar plans were the foundation of the lease sale Salazar invalidated and a federal judge ruled against. They also were the basis of U. student Tim DeChristopher's decision to go after a number of parcels with no intention of paying the $1.8 million he bid to snag 13 of them, even though he could face federal felony charges.

DeChristopher, 27, praised Salazar's decision. "That's excellent. That's wonderful. That's the kind of strong stance we need our leaders to be taking."

The monkey-wrenching activist said his disruption of the auction boosted mainstream conservationists' effectiveness.

But Salazar's move appears to have no effect on DeChristopher's potential legal snarls after the student "won" 13 of the 77 parcels, which cover about 103,000 acres near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Desolation Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument and relic-rich Nine Mile Canyon.

"The decision to withdraw the leases does not wipe the slate clean," U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman said. " As we do with every case referred to our office, we will continue to carefully review the facts in this case and, if appropriate, present it to a grand jury."

A federal judge already has given teeth to the argument that the BLM was derelict when it wrote its land-use plans -- without properly analyzing air quality or potential harm to ancient cultural relics -- to accommodate drilling.

Now U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina is considering an amended suit brought by a coalition of conservation and historic-preservation groups challenging the BLM's plans for the Vernal, Price and Moab regions.

A famous critic of the lease sale, actor and filmmaker Robert Redford, a Natural Resources Defense Council trustee, lauded the Obama administration's move as a sign that citizens, "after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings," have more say on what happens to public lands.

But the oil and gas industry warned that a policy shift could cost consumers more in the long run.

"The Obama administration's actions will lead to job losses, government revenue losses and higher energy costs," said Institute for Energy Research President Thomas J. Pyle in Washington.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also blasted Salazar's decision. "The argument that these leases have been canceled to protect our national parks is a fairy tale conjured up to win public support for what is actually a very dangerous anti-oil agenda."

Salazar said he based his decision on environmentally heedless GOP policies.

"In its last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases at the doorstep of some of our nation's most treasured landscapes in Utah," he said. "We will take a fresh look at these 77 parcels and the adequacy of the environmental review and analysis that led to their being offered for oil and gas development."

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., who took over sponsorship of America's Redrock Wilderness Act, introduced in 1989 by former Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah , commended Salazar but said he needs to go further.

"Until Secretary Salazar fixes the underlying defective resource-management plans," Hinchey said, "the result will be more lease sales in extremely sensitive areas."

Salazar's promise to review the BLM's plans covers a lot of ground, added Robin Cooley, staff attorney for Earthjustice. "Now that the lease sales are off the table, there are bigger problems. What we're ultimately looking for is going back and doing this process right. That doesn't mean the end to all oil and gas leases in Utah."

The BLM in Utah is preparing a parcel list for its next quarterly sale, tentatively scheduled for March 24, said spokeswoman Mary Wilson.

Ready for a new Sagebrush Rebellion? Some Utahns apparently are.

Members of the Utah House GOP caucus seemed ready to draw their handguns and ride off to the East, and take on those federalist Democrats who are trying to "take revenge" on Republican-dominated Utah.

A number of Noel's GOP colleagues agreed with Noel, a few giving the rancher and environmental consultant high-fives after his impassioned address.

The so-called Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s eventually fizzled. But a number of Westerners were sick of federal bureaucrats restricting their use of federal lands — lands that the federal government kept at statehood with the promise (never fulfilled) to sell off those lands for the benefit of the states' school children.

Noel said he plans to introduce a bill to make it a state felony — "eco-terrorism" — for anyone to try to stop "legal" development on federal or state lands. In particular, he singled out Tim Dechristopher, who bought up recent oil drilling leases at public auction to keep them away from oil companies.

This week the Obama administration voided those leases, an act, said Noel, that will cost Utah up to $30 million a year in lost royalties.

"That University of Utah student (Dechristopher) committed a felony, in my opinion," said Noel. "And I hope to make a felony out of it" through legislation.

Noel said stopping a legal oil lease is no different than "burning down a man's cattle operation — eco-terrorism." Dechristopher "took millions of dollars away from us, and he's laughing at us. It's not right. It's not fair."

Dechristopher said he's not an eco-terrorist. "What I did was non-destructive. And I don't believe ultimately it will have any negative affect on Utah. Just the opposite. Our real energy development in Southern Utah is sustainable energy, wind, solar and geothermal. They will bring more jobs than oil, and jobs that will be long lasting, beyond when the oil runs out."

He added that a judge and the new secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, recognize that the Bureau of Land Management didn't follow federal law in "rushing" to bid the oil leases just before former President George W. Bush left office.

"There are people out there who are mad as hell and ready to fight," Noel said. After taking a breath, he continuted that as legislators "we have to hold down" those feeling that violence could happen — and act in a reasoned, if determined, manner.

Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, said the Legislature should start a fund where people could contribute to pay legal costs to fight environmentalists in court at every step. "I'd contribute to that," he said.

Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, said every dollar Utah loses in energy development royalties "is a tax shift to the citizens" of the state. "We have to take a strong stand."

Besides Noel's bill to criminalize some behavior of environmentalists, he said he would have resolutions to send to Congress.

There will be a protest in favor of oil development/multiple use of federal lands in Utah on the Capitol steps Friday at noon. "Come out and support us," Noel asked.

The leases, which cover more than 100,000 acres, including lands near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, were auctioned in the last weeks of the Bush administration. They were among 11th-hour actions taken by the Bush Interior Department that have been criticized by environmental groups and are being reviewed by Obama officials.

In a news conference, Mr. Salazar said that after a review of the leases he concluded that the Bush administration had “rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases at the doorstep of some of our greatest national icons, some of our nation’s most treasured landscapes” without proper scientific review or consultation.

He did not rule out drilling on the lands in the future if a review found it feasible. He said, however, that the Obama administration would find a “new balance” between protecting environmentally sensitive park areas and opening public lands to energy exploration and drilling.

The Bush administration put the properties up for auction in December. Environmental groups filed suit days before the sale, asserting that the Interior Department had not done a proper analysis, particularly of the potential damage to air quality. In January, a Federal District Court judge in Washington agreed and issued an injunction preventing the oil and gas companies from taking possession of the leases.

The cancellation is effective immediately and means that the government will forfeit $6 million in fees from the bidders.

Environmental advocacy groups immediately hailed the decision.

“This is a critical first step and a dramatic difference from the Bush administration,” said Sharon Buccino, senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a Washington-based advocacy group that worked on the lawsuit to block the leases.

But Kathleen Sgamma, director of government affairs for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, a nonprofit association that represents independent natural gas and oil producers in the Intermountain West, said her group had “grave concerns” over the direction the new administration was taking.

“This is going to make it more difficult to develop the natural gas resources we need for our nation’s energy security,” she said.

Mr. Salazar said reviews were continuing of other Bush administration decisions in nearly a dozen policy areas, including offshore drilling and endangered species, particularly those made in the final months.

"I have directed (the department's) Bureau of Land Management not to accept the bids," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters on a conference call.

Environmental groups hailed the decision. They had filed a suit against the leases, complaining that Bush was rushing through a last-minute plan to auction pristine wilderness areas. They also said exploration would hurt tourism.

Oil and gas industry representatives expressed concern about the Obama administration's energy policy.

Salazar said the department would return the $6 million in bids on the 103,000 acres of contested parcels of land. He also said the department would reassess the decision to open these lands to energy exploration, which drew a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers and environmental groups.

He raised concerns about whether the department conducted the proper environmental evaluations and consultations with government agencies before proceeding with the lease sale.

Salazar said President Barack Obama supports responsible development of energy resources, but those interests must be weighed against protection for national landscapes.

No major integrated oil companies submitted winning bids for the disputed tracts. Winning bidders that will get refunds include Bill Barrett Corp (BBG.N), Questar Exploration and Production Co (STR.N) and prviately held Mustang Fuel Corp., Twlight Resources LLC and Enduring Resources LLC.

About a fourth of the total $6 million in winning bids for the parcels came from a college student who protested the lease sale by bidding on tracts he never intended to pay for.

The department never officially accepted the bids offered for these areas at the December lease sale held in the waning days of the Bush presidency.

A U.S. District Court had temporarily blocked the department from finalizing the lease sale, in response to a lawsuit from environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club.

The groups charged that opening the areas to oil and gas development would hurt air quality at several national parks. They said the Bureau of Land Management did not complete the environmental impact analysis mandated by federal regulations.

"This is the first critical step in restoring balance to managing the public lands," said Sharon Buccino, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We had in the last administration an approach that really elevated energy development ... to the dominant use of public land, to the exclusion of a lot of other important values."

Buccino said the groups would keep pursuing their case to contest government resource management plans that authorized the Utah lease sale.

Charles Drevna, president of National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, questioned how this decision fits into Obama's stated commitment to energy independence.

"How does one (have) a goal of limiting dependence on foreign sources of oil and natural gas and at the same time throw up artificial road blocks to development of our own natural resources," Drevna told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by David Gregorio)

Scolding the Bush administration for rushing in its final days to drill near treasured Utah national parks, President Barack Obama's new Interior secretary Wednesday shelved oil and gas leases sold during a chaotic December auction.

Ken Salazar's action -- which drew cheers from conservationists and sneers from industry representatives -- triggered questions about the validity of costly land-use plans governing development and recreation on federal lands in the Beehive State, the fate of a University of Utah student who sabotaged the disputed lease auction and the future of drilling in the West.

But while he canceled the sale of the leases, still the object of an ongoing lawsuit, Salazar refused to put them permanently off-limits to drilling. "I don't necessarily believe all 77 of these oil and gas leases won't go into development at some time."

That would happen, Salazar indicated, only after Interior reviews how the U.S. Bureau of Land Management crafted at least three of its six long-range blueprints for 11 million acres of southern and eastern Utah.

These multimillion-dollar plans were the foundation of the lease sale Salazar invalidated and a federal judge ruled against. They also were the basis of U. student Tim DeChristopher's decision to go after a number of parcels with no intention of paying the $1.8 million he bid to snag 13 of them, even though he could face federal felony charges.

DeChristopher, 27, praised Salazar's decision. "That's excellent. That's wonderful. That's the kind of strong stance we need our leaders to be taking."

The monkey-wrenching activist said his disruption of the auction boosted mainstream conservationists' effectiveness.

But Salazar's move appears to have no effect on DeChristopher's potential legal snarls after the student "won" 13 of the 77 parcels, which cover about 103,000 acres near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Desolation Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument and relic-rich Nine Mile Canyon.

"The decision to withdraw the leases does not wipe the slate clean," U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman said. " As we do with every case referred to our office, we will continue to carefully review the facts in this case and, if appropriate, present it to a grand jury."

A federal judge already has given teeth to the argument that the BLM was derelict when it wrote its land-use plans -- without properly analyzing air quality or potential harm to ancient cultural relics -- to accommodate drilling.

Now U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina is considering an amended suit brought by a coalition of conservation and historic-preservation groups challenging the BLM's plans for the Vernal, Price and Moab regions.

A famous critic of the lease sale, actor and filmmaker Robert Redford, a Natural Resources Defense Council trustee, lauded the Obama administration's move as a sign that citizens, "after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings," have more say on what happens to public lands.

But the oil and gas industry warned that a policy shift could cost consumers more in the long run.

"The Obama administration's actions will lead to job losses, government revenue losses and higher energy costs," said Institute for Energy Research President Thomas J. Pyle in Washington.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also blasted Salazar's decision. "The argument that these leases have been canceled to protect our national parks is a fairy tale conjured up to win public support for what is actually a very dangerous anti-oil agenda."

Salazar said he based his decision on environmentally heedless GOP policies.

"In its last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases at the doorstep of some of our nation's most treasured landscapes in Utah," he said. "We will take a fresh look at these 77 parcels and the adequacy of the environmental review and analysis that led to their being offered for oil and gas development."

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., who took over sponsorship of America's Redrock Wilderness Act, introduced in 1989 by former Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah , commended Salazar but said he needs to go further.

"Until Secretary Salazar fixes the underlying defective resource-management plans," Hinchey said, "the result will be more lease sales in extremely sensitive areas."

Salazar's promise to review the BLM's plans covers a lot of ground, added Robin Cooley, staff attorney for Earthjustice. "Now that the lease sales are off the table, there are bigger problems. What we're ultimately looking for is going back and doing this process right. That doesn't mean the end to all oil and gas leases in Utah."

The BLM in Utah is preparing a parcel list for its next quarterly sale, tentatively scheduled for March 24, said spokeswoman Mary Wilson.

phenetz@sltrib.com

The American public just scored a major victory on behalf of our public lands. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced that he is canceling all 77 contested leases surrounding some of Utah's most stunning national parks. Now, instead of being drilled and industrialized, this redrock wilderness can remain part of our natural heritage.

I see this announcement as a sign that after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings, our government is returning a sense of balance to the way it manages our lands.

The Bush administration made oil and gas drilling the dominant use of public lands, placing it above recreation, preservation, and wildlife habitat. Considering America has less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves and couldn't possible drill its way out of our energy problems, the policy amounted to little more than a giveaway of public resources to the administration's energy industry friends. The Utah leases, announced in November, were just one last parting gift.

Now a new era has dawned in Washington. Our new president is pledging to put America on a clean energy path, one in which we mine our energy efficiency and renewable resources instead of our pristine wildlands.

Although I don't expect miracles from the new administration, I do expect a more even-handed approach to the lands we hold in common. Cancelling the Utah leases was a step in that direction.

The decision reminds us that we don't have to choose between preserving special places and achieving energy security. We can do both. We can drive down energy costs by calling on American workers to weatherize our homes and build more efficient cars. We can opt for clean wind and solar power that doesn't pollute our air and water or endanger our health. And we can protect wild landscapes for generations to come.

But the administration didn't arrive at this decision alone. Yes, my friends at NRDC, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Earthjustice had to file a lawsuit to temporarily halt the leases, but that's not the only thing that brought us to victory. Salazar's announcement confirms something I believe firmly: American citizens have a say in the fate of the lands we love.

I have spent my adult life exploring the slick rock ridgelines, red-walled canyons, and rock art galleries that were threatened by the recent lease sale. I feel deeply connected to these places, and that's why I spoke up for them. But I wasn't the only one.

More than 150,000 Americans filed protest comments with the BLM and broadcast their outrage online. A broad coalition of preservation and business groups and even Congressional leaders added their voices to the outcry. And the media covered the stories extensively, not just because of the secretive nature of the deal, but because well-loved national treasures were at stake.

Government agencies are supposed to protect our lands for our benefit. When they don't, we need to speak up. Well, that's what we did in the name of the Utah wildlands, and look what we accomplished.

In a conference call with reporters and bloggers just completed, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made a most welcome announcement.

WASHINGTON (February 4, 2009) – More than 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness will be protected from oil and gas drilling after the Department of Interior announced today that it will cancel 77 leases issued under the Bush administration. This is among the first actions taken by the Obama administration to protect America’s wild lands. Since December, a coalition of environmental groups – led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), Earthjustice, and the Wilderness Society – have been working to protect these public lands. In December, the coalition filed suit to stop the leasing, and, in January, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from moving forward with these leases.

"I see this announcement as a sign that after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings, our government is returning a sense of balance to the way it manages our lands," said Robert Redford, an NRDC trustee. "American citizens once again have a say in the fate of their public lands, which in this case happen to be some of the last pristine places on earth."

Unclear at the moment is where that leaves University of Utah economics student Tim DeChristopher, one of the most sophisticated, effective, and constructive monkey-wrenchers ever. He won 13 leases in his partially successful attempt to derail the auction. With those leases now canceled, his legal jeopardy might be dissolved. Salazar refused to comment on the case in this call, merely stating that it has been referred to the DOJ.

Salazar doesn't rule out the possibility that some of the parcels on which leases were canceled today won't eventually be put back out for sale once a valid process for determining their suitability for drilling is completed. But the most sensitive areas will remain protected.

There were a handful of questions on all the other messes Salazar inherited, from snowmobiles in Yellowstone to massive oil shale lease sales, but Salazar remained tight-lipped on the other decisions and midnight regulations that they are currently reconsidering.

This was a very good start, but there's yeoman's work ahead of Salazar and his department, including reestablishing and enforcing ethics in the Department. While it didn't receive the degree of attention that the Department of Justice did for being politicized, the shenanigans there go far beyond the drugs and sex scandals that made headlines. Rooting out the industry shills in Interior is going to be as big a job as rooting out Regent University law school grads.

Salazar says the Bush administration rushed an auction in December of some of the country's most precious landscapes around national parks and the wild Green River.

Salazar on Wednesday ordered the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the Interior Department, not to cash checks from winning bidders for the parcels at issue in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.

A federal judge last month put the sale of the 77 parcels on hold. Now Salazar is saying he won't sell any of them — at least not until the Obama administration has a chance to take a second look.

The Bush administration conducted the lease sale in December, but environmental groups went to court to block the winning bids encompassing roughly 110,000 acres near pristine areas such as Nine Mile Canyon, Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument.

Just before Bush left office last month, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina issued a restraining order on the lease sales, postponing the final transactions until he could hear arguments on the merits of the case.

An Interior spokesman declined to comment on the matter, but several sources familiar with the decision said Salazar planned to announce it today, adding that he can reject the winning bids without a penalty because the transactions had not become final and the department has the discretion to accept or reject lease bids that prevail at a public auction.

Sharon Buccino, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who helped challenge the lease sales in federal court, said the decision would send an important signal about the new administration's approach to energy and environmental issues.

"What's significant here is you really do have Salazar taking a very critical first step toward restoring some sort of balance to the management of public lands," Buccino said. "We can have energy security without sacrificing the West's wild places."

The federal government's Dec. 19 Utah lease sale sparked a second legal controversy as well: In an attempt to derail the auction, University of Utah economics student Tim DeChristopher bid $1.8 million and won 13 of the leases even though he never intended to pay for them.

Federal agents escorted DeChristopher out of the room in the midst of the auction, and the U.S. attorney Brett L. Tolman is considering whether to press charges in the case.

By Patty Henetz, Salt Lake Tribune 

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will cancel the results of a chaotic Utah oil- and gas-lease sale that drew protests from conservationists, outdoors enthusiasts, the National Park Service, members of Congress and President Barack Obama's transition team chief.

While Salazar said he would make an announcement Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. MST on the lease auction conducted Dec. 19 in Salt Lake City, The Washington Post , citing unnamed Interior sources, said Salazar will invalidate the sale of 77 leases on 103,000 acres near Vernal, Moab and Price.

The lease sale, which the U.S. Bureau of Land Management conducted under the Bush administration's directive to maximize drilling in Utah's scenic redrock country, fell apart when a University of Utah student, Tim DeChristopher, monkey-wrenched the auction by winning bids on parcels with no intention of paying the $1.8 million owed for the leases.

On Tuesday, 11 conservation and historic preservation groups amended a lawsuit that already has resulted in a temporary restraining order against the BLM sale.

On Jan. 17, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina issued a temporary restraining order to indefinitely leases near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Desolation Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument, wilderness study areas and Nine Mile Canyon

The groups had argued that the leases were faulty because the BLM didn't properly study air quality or potential damage to ancient rock art. Now the plaintiffs want the court to halt implementation of three BLM long-term management plans finalized for those regions just days before the disputed auction.

phenetz@sltrib.com

Same Day Statement (PDF)
Brett L. Tolman
United States Attorney District of Utah
U.S. Department of Justice

Barely two weeks after pushing the federal government into a corner over a chaotic oil- and gas-lease sale, conservation organizations threw more punches Tuesday, hoping to overturn a Bush administration quest to maximize drilling in Utah's redrock country.

Eleven conservation and historic-preservation groups amended a lawsuit that already has resulted in a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which on Dec. 19 auctioned 77 oil and gas parcels that were under formal protest.

The groups had argued that the leases were faulty because the BLM didn't properly study air quality or potential damage to ancient rock art. The amended lawsuit seeks to nullify long-term BLM management plans for the Vernal, Moab and Price regions, claiming the agency didn't properly consider wild and scenic-river designations, wilderness, climate change and the effects of off-highway vehicle recreation on arid public lands.

The cause has caught the attention of President Barack Obama's Interior secretary, Ken Salazar, who last week told reporters he was reviewing Bush administration "midnight actions," including the Dec. 19 lease sale.

Salazar also said he was keeping an eye on what may happen to University of Utah student Tim DeChristopher, who upended the auction by winning bids on parcels with no intention of paying the $1.8 million owed for the leases.

On Tuesday, Interior Department spokesman Frank Quimby clarified that Salazar didn't have the power to intervene in any possible prosecution of DeChristopher, which is the "sole discretion" of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City.

Quimby couldn't say whether Salazar had the power to throw out any complaint the BLM state office in Utah may have filed against DeChristopher, nor was Quimby aware of any such complaint.

As for overturning the lease-sale results, Quimby said Interior would defer to pending action in federal court and declined comment.

On Jan. 17, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina issued a temporary restraining order to indefinitely block the leases on more than 103,000 acres in eastern and southern Utah. The federal government has until Friday to respond to the order.

The parcels are near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Desolation Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument, wilderness study areas and Nine Mile Canyon.

Steve Bloch, staff attorney for one of the plaintiffs, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said the resource-management plans gave preference to oil and gas drilling and OHV recreation over all other uses.

phenetz@sltrib.com

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.

"We are looking at all of the options, and we are putting those in the category of midnight actions of the Bush administration," Salazar told a teleconference of reporters.

Not only is Salazar looking at ways to stop issuing the oil leases near Utah national parks that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctioned last month, he is apparently weighing halting any prosecution of an activist -- Tim DeChristopher -- who ran up bids without any intention of buying parcels (and won bids he cannot afford for some).

"It (prosecution of DeChristopher) is something we have on our radar screen, and no decision has been made," Salazar said about the case.

Environmental groups have called on the Obama administration to void last month's auction. A federal judge also put a temporary hold on those leases near such areas as Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Nine Mile Canyon to consider merits of a lawsuit by seven environmental and historical preservation groups.

Salazar hinted the administration itself, without any court order, is also thinking about halting the auctioned leases.

"We are examining our options and seeing what we are able to do with respect to those actions. We will take a look at it," he said.

He said another of the "midnight actions" by the Bush administration that could be halted is its moves toward allowing leases for commercial oil shale production in Utah, which Salazar said is premature.

As U.S. senator from Colorado, Salazar fought last year to preserve a moratorium against such commercial oil shale leases. It expired anyway when Congress failed to extend it at a time when gasoline prices were soaring. (Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, helped lead the fight to dump that moratorium.)

Salazar said in response to a Deseret News question Wednesday that too many unknowns about oil shale development remain to proceed with commercial leases.

"There is no answer to the question as to how much water will be required" or how much energy it will take to extract oil shale and "how that will ultimately contribute to the issue of climate change," he said.

"I think until those very fundamental questions are answered, it makes no sense to move toward a commercial oil shale leasing program," he said. "So that is one of those midnight actions of the Bush administration that we will be reviewing and making thoughtful decisions about how to move forward."

However, Salazar said research and development into oil shale should continue to seek answers to such questions about its cost- effectiveness and environmental impacts.

"The research and development efforts that are under way I believe should be continued because there are huge resources in the states of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming ... and those research and development efforts are, I think, appropriate," he said.

While disliking the Utah oil and oil shale leases, Salazar said one of the priorities he intends to pursue at the Interior Department is to help America become an energy independent nation, and one that is more "green" and uses more renewable energy sources.

"I believe very strongly in this issue. I think inescapable forces (that) compel us to move forward with this new energy frontier are the realities of national security, environmental security and global warming, as well as economic opportunities here at home," he said.

He added he seeks "the right balance for the development of our conventional fuels and resources so that we are protecting the environment, at the same time recognizing as we transition to the new energy frontier we need to use our conventional fuels to help us sustain our economy."

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?





















































 



















 

Take the train. Dial down your heat. Write your senator.

Taking those individual steps surely helps in the battle against global warming. But, scientists and advocates warn, it's no longer enough to fend off climate disaster.

Get ready, some of them say, to hijack oil-lease sales (like a college student did in Utah), to climb smokestacks in protest (like Greenpeace activists did in England), to trespass at power plants (like demonstrators plan to do in Washington, D.C.).

It's time, these environmentalists say, for some good, old-fashioned civil disobedience -- the types of nonviolent acts proven effective by the famous (Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks) and the faceless (students at Tiananmen Square, anti-war protesters on college campuses, women suffragists in street marches).

At a recent Environmental Ministry meeting at Salt Lake City's First Unitarian Church that drew more than 300 people, Tim DeChristopher, the 27-year-old University of Utah economics student who disrupted a December drilling-lease auction, called for an "uprising."

DeChristopher didn't use the word lightly, he said, yet "anything short of that will not get us where we need to go."

Heeding such calls, organizers are mobilizing for a mass act of nonviolent civil disobedience March 2 to protest coal-fired power plants and the damage industrial pollution has caused to the planet's climate.

"We're hoping and preparing for thousands," said Matt Leonard, the Greenpeace coordinator for the event. "It will certainly be the largest such action on climate change in U.S. history. We hope it will be the first of many."

Protesters will gather at the Capital Power Plant in Washington -- source of heat and refrigeration for the entire Capitol complex -- walk on to the property, sit down and thereby break the law.

"Enough is enough. Action needs to be taken," Leonard said. "But to really meet the climate crisis, we need collective action. You can't do that by buying light bulbs and hybrid vehicles."

» Gore's plea: The March 2 demonstration will be the first major protest since former Vice President Al Gore, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in September called for moral lawbreaking.

"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration," Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause, according to Reuters news service.

Since then, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben and poet Wendell Berry have chimed in. Last month, they wrote an open letter, which has circulated widely on the Web, urging mass civil disobedience against coal in March.

"We will cross the legal boundary of the power plant, and we expect to be arrested," they wrote. "The worldwide daily reliance on coal is the danger; this is one small step to raise awareness of that ruinous habit and hence help to break it."

But the thought of moving beyond conventional acts -- voting, lobbying, giving up cars -- stumps or scares some would-be activists. Others would never dream of breaking the law.

After the First Unitarian Church meeting, Robert and Amy Matheson said they felt more aware of the enormity of climate disruption but were unsure what to do next. They didn't know what civil disobedience looked like and were wary of it -- given the risks.

"I'm kind of a chicken," Amy Matheson said. "I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice my family, my freedom, my life."

Maybe if he were emotionally invested, Robert Matheson reasoned, he would be less afraid.

» Personal stake: All humans are invested in coal, activists say, even if they don't recognize it.

Coal-industry advocates point out that the United States gets about half its electricity from coal; nearly all of Utah's electricity is coal fired. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates domestic coal could last for over 250 years at current-use levels.

The countries where coal is the primary energy fuel are polluting everyone's lives. Some of the evidence: unprecedented asthma rates in children, the enduring drought in the American Southwest, the worst drought in Australia in 1,000 years, crop failures in Africa, the filthy air on the Wasatch Front, the cheat grass on the Western range and the fires that feed on it.

Growing awareness of coal's downside led a British jury in September to acquit Greenpeace activists who climbed a 650-foot coal-plant smokestack in an attempt to shut it down. The jury reasoned that global warming is causing greater harm than Greenpeace.

DeChristopher saw his own transgression as a step toward Earth's salvation.With climate chaos looming, he said, "How could I not do this? How could I sit by and be complicit in my own destruction?"

The U. student could face federal felony charges and even prison for his protest. Still, he urges more people to do what he did: If an opportunity presents itself, find your voice and stand your ground.

But don't go all out without cause, warned Daniel Kessler, a Greenpeace spokesman in San Francisco. "There's no reason for civil disobedience if another [measure] is more effective."

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.

Tweetup for Modern Day Monkeywrencher set at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market

Salt Lake City, UT – The nation’s newest poster child for civil disobedience will come face to face with the industry that may be best positioned to appreciate his environmental activism when Tim DeChristopher makes the rounds at this week’s Outdoor Retailer Winter Market at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

DeChristopher’s goal in attending the show is to raise awareness in support of a campaign he singlehandedly spearheaded to save the backdrop to two of Utah’s most famous national parks from oil and gas drilling operations. His efforts already have been applauded by the likes of movie star and environmentalist Robert Redford, the Yes Men, and Ken Sleight, aka Seldom Seen Smith, in Edward Abbey’s most famous work of environmental fiction, “The Monkey Wrench Gang.” DeChristopher has appeared on Democracy Now, CBS Evening News and been written about in major newspapers throughout the US and across the oceans from Great Britain to New Zealand.

DeChristopher will meet with top management from some of the leading manufacturers of human -powered outdoor gear who’ve expressed interest in and affinity with his cause. He’ll also conduct media interviews with the likes of Backpacker magazine as well as a radio interview for Wisconsin Public Radio’s syndicated “To the Best of Our Knowledge” and other regional and national outdoor enthusiast publications. A “Tweetup for Tim” is schedule at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Backcountry Village (Booth #35106) in the Salt Palace. The Tweetup, an offline meeting publicized largely via social media microblogging site Twitter, will be a chance for outdoor industry enthusiasts to meet Tim, suport his cause and listen in on Shannon Davis’ interview for Backpacker.

DeChristopher became the Monkey Wrench Gang’s newest de facto inductee when he bid against oil and gas industry veterans during a US Bureau of Land Mangement lease auction in Moab, Utah last month. Though DeChristopher had neither the means, nor any intention of paying for them, he won leases totaling $1.7 million for 22,500 acres of Utah red rock desert near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Many of the parcels were being contested by environmental groups since they in an area that contain the nation’s greatest density of ancient rock art and other cultural resources. Over this past weekend, a federal judge approved a temporary restraining order on the auction, signaling some chance the environmental groups’ claims may prevail.

A web site raising money for DeChristopher’s leases has brought in $45,000, but the BLM has not yet decided whether to accept the downpayment. Funds raised will also be used to defray legal costs, as DeChristopher is also facing possible fraud charges in federal court which, if the case goes to trial and he’s convicted, could include prison time.

This year’s Outdoor Retailer Winter Market has attracted more than 800 exhibitors representing manufacturers of tents, backpacks, clothing, hardware, Nordic gear and all the accessories folks need to maximize their enjoyment and safety in the outdoors. The trade show, which is not open to the public, runs Jan. 22 – 25. DeChristopher’s appearance at the show is thanks in part to Kenji Haroutunian, Group Show Director, Nielsen Business Media. Thanks too to Alison Gannett, founder of the Save Our Snow Foundation, for welcoming DeChristopher to Backcountry Village.

###

They were warned, but they didn't listen.

Now, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management must deal with a federal judge's finding that the agency failed to properly consider potential damage to air quality and ancient rock art before selling oil and gas leases on sensitive public lands in Utah.

In an unusual weekend ruling, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina issued a temporary restraining order to indefinitely block 77 protested oil and gas leases on more than 103,000 acres in eastern and southern Utah.

The ruling throws the already-disrupted Dec. 19 auction into deeper limbo.

Should Urbina continue to rule in favor of the seven conservation and historic-preservation organizations that sued to stop the BLM auction, the land-use plans that were the bedrock of the lease sale ultimately could crumble.

"We're on the cusp of something very significant," said Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance staff attorney Steve Bloch.

The parcels Urbina ruled on are near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Desolation Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument, wilderness study areas and Nine Mile Canyon, revered as holy by the Hopi tribe.

Thirteen of the leases are those a University of Utah student won at the auction, with no intention to pay, in what he called an act of civil disobedience.

BLM spokeswomen in Salt Lake City declined to comment on the ruling because Urbina is still considering the underlying lawsuit.

But Pam Miller, a spokeswoman for the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition said: "We're thrilled. The judge thinks [the lawsuit] has merit and thinks they will prevail when it goes to court."

In his ruling, Urbina found the BLM didn't properly analyze air-quality damage that would result from industrial activity -- a measure the Environmental Protection Agency had advised the BLM to take to satisfy federal law.

Urbina also found that the BLM's inadequate studies posed risks to Nine Mile Canyon's ancient Puebloan art, protected under federal historic preservation law.

The judge based his ruling on three of the long-term resource management plans the BLM made final on Halloween. Those RMPs also were final environmental impact statements; Urbina wrote that the BLM "cannot rely on EISs that lack air pollution and ozone level statistics."

That means the resource plans for the Vernal, Price and Moab field offices could be in trouble, Bloch said. "At a minimum, these three RMPs suffer fatal flaws."

About a half-dozen of the 77 leases were on the West Tavaputs Plateau, where Bill Barrett Corp. is seeking full-field development of about 900 natural gas wells. The final environmental impact statement on that project, expected before President George W. Bush left office, has yet to emerge.

Bill Barrett spokesman Duane Zavadil declined to comment on the specifics of Urbina's ruling because the company has intervened in the lawsuit. He did say, however, that the project's environmental studies include ozone analyses.

Industry representatives said the lawsuit against the lease sale was counterproductive.

"It's unfortunate that this ruling came just days before President Obama was sworn in since it will result in a setback for two of his main policy goals -- increasing energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Kathleen Sgamma, government affairs director for the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States.

But Tim DeChristopher, the 27-year-old economics student who threw a wrench into the lease sale, hailed Urbina's ruling even though he has criticized mainstream environmental groups' legal fights as games they are losing.

DeChristopher, who won bids worth $1.8 million on 22,000 acres, said his actions were effective.

He still faces possible federal felony charges, but the temporary restraining order could work in his favor. "It is a ruling that says this auction was inappropriate in the first place," he said.

phenetz@sltrib.com

Daphne Hougard 415-302-0733  -  daphnehougard@gmail.com

permission required for use

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."

WASHINGTON (January 18, 2009) – More than 110,000 acres of Utah wilderness will be protected from oil and gas companies as a result of a ruling last night by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court. Judge Urbina granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from moving forward with these leases. A coalition of environmental groups— led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Wilderness Society, and Earthjustice– filed a lawsuit on December 17, 2008 to prevent the leasing of public lands.
 
"This ruling is a huge victory in protecting our nation's pristine wilderness from destruction due to oil and gas drilling," said Sharon Buccino, senior attorney for NRDC. "We do not need to sacrifice our wild lands to achieve a secure energy future."
 
In his ruling, Judge Urbina found that the conservation groups "have shown a likelihood of success on the merits" and that the "'development of domestic energy resources' … is far outweighed by the public interest in avoiding irreparable damage to public lands and the environment." The merits of the case will be heard later in 2009. Until that time, BLM is prohibited from cashing the checks issued for the contested acres of Utah wilderness.
 
"We're thrilled with this decision," said Stephen Bloch, Conservation Director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "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. Judge Urbina's decision firmly puts the brakes on these plans."
 
The contested areas near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon include lands that contain the nation's greatest density of ancient rock art and other cultural resources. These lands were recently made available to industry through hastily approved resource management plans that have serious ramifications for 3 million acres of public lands.
 
"Under the Bush administration, the Bureau of Land Management pushed through Resource Management Plans that treated some of America's most sensitive and spectacular public lands as the private playgrounds of the oil and gas companies," said Bill Hedden, Executive Director of Grand Canyon Trust. "Today's heartening court decision gives these unique places a last second pardon from forever sacrificing their archaeological treasures, pristine air and remote wildness in order to sate only an hour or two of our national addiction to oil and gas."
 
"When we begin to allow oil drilling in the backdrop of an icon like Arches National Park, we know something needs to change," said Sierra Club representative Myke Bybee. "It's time to stop handing over our natural treasures just so the oil industry can make more money. Instead, we could be investing in efficiency and the kind of clean energy that will benefit all of us and leave our best wild places intact." 

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

All Material here is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

IS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MORALLY REQUIRED IN THIS TIME?

 Date and Time:   Friday, January 16, 2009, 7 pm

Location: First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, 569 South 1300 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84102 |Map It!

With Ken Sleight, The Original Monkey Wrencher

We hope you will join us in an interactive conversation that asks us to consider the extent of action required to forestall the destruction to the living systems that support us and to move in the direction of restoring a livable world for our children.  We will consider that question from the perspective of over-exploitation of the spectacular lands around us and the poisoning of the biosphere represented by global climate chaos.  We are eager for your thoughts and comments, particularly following the courageous act of Civil Disobedience initiated by Tim DeChristopher.  What is the extent of personal and collective action, including Civil Disobedience, that is required to change the fatal course that all of us are taking and that the Nobel Prize Winners are sternly warning us about? 

If we value the living world of which we are a part, if we care deeply for our children and theirs, if we are able to respond to the overwhelming destruction that we together are causing, then what is a constructive response?  A complete and immediate overhaul of our economic, social, and moral systems seems required.  Reality will have to trump virtual reality.  Our perspectives, conversations and expectations will need to match what Mother Nature can provide without destroying the “nurture” in her.  How do we do it?

For the doubters:  Even if there is only a 50% chance that the state of our planet is as dire as the leading climate scientist, James Hansen, and others clearly and urgently explain -- isn't consequential action to end Coal Fired Power Plants immediately required by those of us  who understand the flagrant immorality of continuing to burn these dirty fossils?   

Let's engage that dialogue.  And then, let’s see if we are prepared to act. Is action the central moral duty of our time?  And if we do actively engage, as Bill McKibben said in our own Salt Lake Unitarian pulpit, isn't action genuinely "loving our neighbors as ourselves?"

Scheduled speakers: Tim DeChristopher, Rocky Anderson, Tom Goldsmith, and David Chapman

* Context: Bill McKibben and Wendell Berry's Capitol Climate Action: http://climateprogress.org/2008/12/10/wendell-berry-bill-mckibben-civil-disobedience-washington-dc-coal-plant-march-2/

This event is co-sponsored by Environmental Ministry at First Unitarian Church , Utah Interfaith Power & Light, and Post Carbon Salt Lake.

Seems to me this should work here in the States as well (my opinion, I am not an attorney). Tens of thousands of owners for strategically purchased parcels, now that's a monkey-wrench!

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 .

stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust mixx.com

We are fortunate to have someone like Tim to be a spokesman for his generation.  The Washington Post of January 12 can be found here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011102265_2.html?hpid=topnews .

Later that day, Tim wrote this and posted it on OneUtah.org

Follows is an RSS feed from there for category = DeChristopher

“For the Tim DeChristopher Legal defense fund.  Thanks for your courage!”  S Higgins, Hagerstown, MD

“Friends and I have biked Moab and enjoyed the area – many times.  Good on Tim D!  Good on You Guys! Damn Oil & Gas! Thanks” R Pope, Eau Claire, WI

“Dear Tim – I’m SO inspired by your amazingly creative and courageous action! Also, thank you for having such a strong vision for future generations! I happen to be a Grandmother of 10 and 1 Great-Grandchild!  I’ve loved and backpacked SW Utah for years.  You are the Super Hero for all my family and friends that cherish the environment.  In Gratitude”, P Gardner, Las Vegas, NV  ”P.S.  Please put me on your list for on-going info and needs.  Please use this for your defense fund or towards your bid.  Let me know if more is needed and I’ll do my best to raise more.”

“I know, I know, It’s a trifle.  But I very much do want to express my support! Tim DeChristopher is not only a person of courage, but of imagination.  And humor!  Doubtless many across the nation share my glee at how the oil sharks have been stymied – even if only temporarily.  I’ve traveled the length of Utah, and been to Zion & Bryce Canyons.  The discussion needs to be linked to the Redevelopment of Public Transportation.  Solidarity”, J Forman,  Albuquerque, NM

“Thank You, Tim for being so brave & thoughtful”, S Lane, Las Vegas, NV

“Wow! Tim!  What an heroic thing you did.  Thank you”  E Dickerson, Weed, CA  “P.S. I hope Robert Redford hears about this.  I think he would contribute lots of money.”

“Thanks for your help to this courageous young man, and for all your work”,  L & B Cobb, St. George, UT

“You GO, Tim!” Anon, San Francisco, CA

“ Dear Folks;  Enclosed is a check to be used for Tim DeChristopher’s defense fund.  I heard the story yesterday on Democracy Now and found this address on the internet.  It was a brave thing Tim did and a real act of love for good stewardship of these pristine lands.  Thank You and good luck” T Olson, Ithaca, NY

“I am sending a check to help out in the defense of Tim DeChristopher.  I am so grateful for his action and his obvious heartfelt connection to the Earth & the lands of Southern Utah.  I hope you are able to provide him with the best legal aid the United States can muster.  Thank you for your services”, Sincerely, T  Venerable, Santa Fe, NM

“Good Luck!  Southern Utah is one of our favorite places!”  B Davis, South Colby, WA

“Thank you Tim!  Wish I could give more!”  read about your escapades on Common Dreams.com –the article by Amy Goodman.”  Best, L. Heinz, San Cristobal, NM

The money's in the bank for Tim DeChristopher, who said Friday he has reached his goal of amassing $45,000 to make his down payment on oil and gas drilling leases he won at a federal auction three weeks ago.

The University of Utah student - who on Dec. 19 deliberately bid, with no intention of paying, $1.8 million for 13 parcels on 22,000 acres near Arches and Canyonlands national parks - raised the money by his self-imposed deadline.

Most of the donations were $10 or $20 from "thousands" of people, DeChristopher said in a statement. "I deeply appreciate the generosity of all those who have contributed."

DeChristopher believes the $45,000 will be enough to pay his immediate obligation to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and fend off drilling on the scenic region at least until President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20 and new officials are in charge.

But industry insiders who also took part in the BLM lease sale in Salt Lake City scoff at the ploy, saying that because DeChristopher missed the agency's deadline, his bids should be rejected, and he shouldn't be allowed to buy them even if his supporters come up with all $1.8 million.

The BLM explains that DeChristopher's money is too little, too late. Spokeswoman Mary Wilson said he was liable for a minimum of $81,238.50 on auction day with the nearly $1.8 million due no later than Jan. 6.

But DeChristopher said his lawyers -- former national BLM boss Pat Shea and noted Salt Lake City defense attorney Ron Yengich -- counsel that because what happened at the auction was unprecedented, "there's still a chance we can make the first payment."

DeChristopher, 27, acknowledges he intended to disrupt the auction with what he calls an act of civil disobedience. The U.S. attorney's office is weighing whether to take the case to a grand jury for possible felony charges.

"I understood the consequences of my actions before I took them," DeChristopher said in an interview.

While many environmentalists salute DeChristopher's defiance, some industry representatives want his head.

BLM officials "should make sure they prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," said Kathleen Sgamma, an official with the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States. "It seems that would put a damper on any future fraudulent bidding."

Vern Jones, of Salt Lake City-based Jones Land Services, an independent agent who bid on behalf of nine oil and gas companies in four states at the auction, said he is suspicious of DeChristopher's fundraising.

"When he didn't pay on the day of the sale, he didn't have a prayer of getting the leases," Jones said. "When he's telling everyone, 'If you send me money, you can save me,' that's just crap. He's scamming people."

The fundraising is legal, DeChristopher insists. A nonprofit group, the Center for Water Advocacy in Moab, is handling the donations.

"I tried to make it clear there's a defense fund and a lease-purchase fund," DeChristopher said. "The lease-purchase fund is reserved for buying the leases. If the BLM refuses payment, or my land is put up for auction again, the $45,000 will be used for bidding again on that land in whatever new option it is put up for."

If the land isn't put up for auction, "I intend to contact the donors and get their feedback on whether the money should be returned, put into my defense fund or put into [another] project or philanthropic effort," he said. "People have given me that trust. I certainly don't want to take advantage of that."

Since the auction, questions have arisen about the BLM's procedures. Should the agency have required bidders to post a bond or otherwise prove their ability to pay for their bids? Was the BLM somehow lax when it allowed DeChristopher to register and receive bidding paddle No. 70? Should the agency tighten up its auctions by requiring proof of ability to pay?

To Jones, an industry insider for 35 years, the answers are no, no and no. "The BLM has done everything it could have done and should have done," he said.

The rules the agency posted in its announcement for the auction said bids were legally binding commitments with money due on sale day. All balances, which include several BLM administrative fees, were due Jan. 6.

"If you do not pay in full by this date, you lose the right to the lease and all money due on the day of the sale. If you forfeit a parcel, we may offer it at a later sale," the notice said.

DeChristopher signed a bidder registration form that said it is a crime under federal law to "knowingly and willfully make any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements" and cited the maximum federal penalties for the crime: five years in prison, a fine, or both.

Jones said he never has had to post a bond or otherwise certify he could pay for his bids. Likening his job to that of a real-estate agent, he said he shouldn't be expected to shell out for bids he makes on his clients' behalf.

But Shea, who oversaw the BLM during the Clinton administration, said the agency has required more proof from bidders in the past. "When we were administering oil and gas leases," he said, "there was a bond requirement and a cash-certification commitment."

In addition, Shea said, the BLM has allowed some bidders to run lines of credit or otherwise has acknowledged financial liquidity without requiring bidders to pay on auction day.

"Those who know how to game the system get an economic advantage. Someone who is a bit naive but full of integrity can get tripped up," Shea said. "The [BLM] handbook is not the definitive statement on the statutesand restrictions on oil and gas leases. "

As it happened, the BLM suspended its own rules for the Dec. 19 auction when it allowed bidders who thought DeChristopher's actions overinflated their bids to withdraw them. Two bidders pulled back on two parcels; the combined value of those bids was $73,000, Wilson said.

DeChristopher said he would urge more people to buy leases and retire them. "There are enough of us who value the land and value the climate. We should protect this environment," he said. "That's the only way we can get the true market value for these leases -- if all the people who value the land are involved in the auction."

Jones and other industry insiders said they had no problem with people legitimately buying leases they intended to keep undeveloped.

"If they're willing to spend the money, that's their option," Jones said. "I just don't think it's fair for someone to go in and destroy the system."

phenetz@sltrib.com

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

Student Who Stopped Auction of Public Lands Needs Our Help: Kossacks to the Rescue!

©2008 Sallie Dean Shatz ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://www.salliedeanshatz.com

“Friends and I have biked Moab and enjoyed the area – many times.  Good on Tim D!  Good on You Guys! Damn Oil & Gas! Thanks” R Pope, Eau Claire, WI

“Dear Tim – I’m SO inspired by your amazingly creative and courageous action! Also, thank you for having such a strong vision for future generations! I happen to be a Grandmother of 10 and 1 Great-Grandchild!  I’ve loved and backpacked SW Utah for years.  You are the Super Hero for all my family and friends that cherish the environment.  In Gratitude”, P Gardner, Las Vegas, NV  ”P.S.  Please put me on your list for on-going info and needs.  Please use this for your defense fund or towards your bid.  Let me know if more is needed and I’ll do my best to raise more.”

“I know, I know, It’s a trifle.  But I very much do want to express my support! Tim DeChristopher is not only a person of courage, but of imagination.  And humor!  Doubtless many across the nation share my glee at how the oil sharks have been stymied – even if only temporarily.  I’ve traveled the length of Utah, and been to Zion & Bryce Canyons.  The discussion needs to be linked to the Redevelopment of Public Transportation.  Solidarity”, J Forman,  Albuquerque, NM

“Thank You, Tim for being so brave & thoughtful”, S Lane, Las Vegas, NV

“Wow! Tim!  What an heroic thing you did.  Thank you”  E Dickerson, Weed, CA  “P.S. I hope Robert Redford hears about this.  I think he would contribute lots of money.”

“Thanks for your help to this courageous young man, and for all your work”,  L & B Cobb, St. George, UT

“You GO, Tim!”  Anon, San Francisco, CA

“ Dear Folks;  Enclosed is a check to be used for Tim DeChristopher’s defense fund.  I heard the story yesterday on Democracy Now and found this address on the internet.  It was a brave thing Tim did and a real act of love for good stewardship of these pristine lands.  Thank You and good luck”  T Olson, Ithaca, NY

“I am sending a check to help out in the defense of Tim DeChristopher.  I am so grateful for his action and his obvious heartfelt connection to the Earth & the lands of Southern Utah.  I hope you are able to provide him with the best legal aid the United States can muster.  Thank you for your services”, Sincerely, T  Venerable, Santa Fe, NM

“Good Luck!  Southern Utah is one of our favorite places!”  B Davis, South Colby, WA

“Thank you Tim!  Wish I could give more!”  read about your escapades on Common Dreams.com –t he article by Amy Goodman.”  Best, L. Heinz, San Cristobal, NM

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.