Did DeChristopher's outspokenness seal his fate?
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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.
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