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

[gristy]

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

In a national broadcast exclusive, University of Utah student Tim DeChristopher explains how he “bought” 22,000 acres of land in an attempt to save the property from drilling. The sale had been strongly opposed by many environmental groups. Stephen Bloch of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said: "This is the fire sale, the Bush administration’s last great gift to the oil and gas industry.”

The Bureau of Land Management held a controversial auction Friday to sell oil and gas drilling rights to nearly 150,000 acres of wilderness in Southern Utah. The sale had been strongly opposed by many environmental groups. Stephen Bloch of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said: "This is the fire sale, the Bush administration’s last great gift to the oil and gas industry.”

A coalition of environmental groups opposed to energy development on public lands filed a lawsuit last week to block the auction. They struck a deal with the Bureau of Land Management that allowed the auction to proceed on the condition that the leases on the most contested portions of the land will not be issued for another 30 days, until a federal judge hears the case.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/22/posing_as_a_bidder_utah_student
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11274601?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

[ellie]

1. Oh my God that is awesome!

Good for him!

[Ian David]

2. I say they can do what they want to Utah, at least until Harry Reid dies. n/t

[Common Sense Party]

9. Ummmm....Harry Reid isn't from Utah.

Thanks, anyway.

[Ian David]

11. Harry Reid's Wikipedia page says he's from Utah.

Or, at least, it will right now, if you go check it really quick after I type this.

[roguevalley]

10. bryce and arches national areas are awesome. bless him for helping

and damning personal consequences.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. The icing on the cake:

27-year-old Tim DeChristopher posed as a potential bidder and bid hundreds of thousands of dollars on parcels of the land, driving up prices and winning some 22,000 acres for himself, without any intention of paying for them.

And now the cherry on top:

The Bureau of Land Management must now wait over a month before it can auction off these properties but by then the bureau will no longer be run by the Bush administration.

:rofl:

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Sweet!

[noamnety]

5. They arrested him for spending money he didn't have.

Too bad he wasn't a rich banker; he could have gotten a federal bailout instead of a court date.

[blogslut]

6. I like the way that young man thinks

We need about 10,000 more of him.

[Hydra]

7. A good example of civil disobedience

Luckily the environmental groups are going to help him legally- he'd be dead where he stands otherwise. He'd better watch out for Cheney and his gun, though- I bet the old bastard is FURIOUS.

[madokie]

8. My new hero

I kind of like his name too