Bravo, Tim DeChristopher!!! Bravo!!!!

Go Tim!!!!!

You are my new hero!!!!




Posing As A Bidder, Utah Student Disrupts Government Auction of 150,000 Acres Of Wilderness For Oil & Gas Drilling



SALT LAKE CITY — An environmental activist tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases Friday by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them, a federal official said.

The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed, with 116 parcels totaling 148,598 acres having sold for $7.2 million plus fees.

"He's tainted the entire auction," said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah.

Hoffman said buyers will have 10 days to reconsider and withdraw their bids if they think they paid too much.

Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old University of Utah economics student, said his plan was to disrupt the auction and he feels he accomplished his goal.

DeChristopher won the bidding on 13 parcels, auction records show, and drove up the price of several other pieces of land.

"I thought I could be effective by making bids, driving up prices for others and winning some bids myself," the Salt Lake City man said.

Some bidders said they were forced to bid thousands of dollars more for their parcels, while others fumed that they lost their bids.


Full Article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/21/tim-dechristopher-throws-_n_152661.html

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Updated On: 12/22/08 at 09:44 AM

Smart student. He not only disrupted the auction thereby making a point, he drew national attention to the issues.

Bogus lease bidder won't face charges - yet




No federal charges are forthcoming against a University of Utah student who disrupted a federal oil- and gas-lease auction Friday by winning bids he had no intention to buy on nearly 22,000 acres of public land near Arches and Canyonlands national parks.

U. economics student Tim DeChristopher, 27, was detained and questioned Friday during the auction after other bidders complained to officials they thought he was a ringer -- which he was, without apology.

Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City, said Monday morning that her office hadn't seen the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's investigative report. Federal prosecutors likely will do their own inquiry on whether DeChristopher's case should be brought before a grand jury, which wouldn't happen for weeks.

"The process is just starting," she said. "It will take time to evaluate evidence and make a determination whether we will prosecute."

BLM officials said DeChristopher bid $1.8 million for more than 10 lease parcels near Arches and Canyonlands while driving up other bids by about $500,000.

DeChristopher concedes he did so as an act of civil disobedience because less brazen environmental-movement tactics weren't working to stop the Bush administration's grab of public land for drilling.

During a radio interview Monday morning, DeChristopher reiterated that he was willing to do prison time for his actions, but didn't want to.


Full Article:

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11289406

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Hmmmm I wonder if they want to prosecute and draw more attention to this Public Land Firesale... Say why don't we go down and start selling off some of Bush's land holdings?

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