Tim DeChristopher may face 10 years for bidding against BLM

A college student stood up against the rape of the land. How is he rewarded? Possibly with a 10 year prison sentence.

Tim DeChristopher thought the Obama administration’s
environmentally-friendly approach to public lands would cover his back. He
thought wrong.

Don’t mess with the BLM (AP)
The 27-year old Utah student, who gained notoriety when he disrupted a
federal auction for oil and gas leases in December by bidding for land
with money he didn’t have, got charged with two federal felony counts
yesterday. If convicted, he could face as much as 10 years in prison.

New Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made it clear he will brook no nonsense
in the very serious business of federal energy leases, even if the
administration shares concern about oil and gas development on some
federal land. From the Salt Lake Tribune:

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.”

Mr. DeChristopher caused a sensation when he snuck into the lease auction
last December and bid up prices for some parcels of land; some energy
companies pulled out of the bidding, and others had to pay more money. He
said the auction was “a fraud against the American people and a threat to
our future.”

The irony, of course, is that the Interior Department later cancelled bids
on 77 of the most environmentally-sensitive parcels—for pretty much the
same rationale that drove Mr. DeChristopher to muck with the auction in
the first place.

“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,” Secretary Salazar said at the time.