Proof that there alternative ways to tree hugging. I always wondered why some environmental groups don't put their money where their mouth is. I know I'm assuming they have money in the first place, but I see efforts in Brazil/South America where groups buy up pieces of land to protect it.
This smart /brave student took his knowledge of the system and used it against the evil doers. A Utah college student Tim DeChristopher took matters into his own hands, when he decided he could more effective as a bidder inside, than a protester outside. As a result of his actions he purchased 22000 acres of scenic land quite possibly delaying their use by Bushesco
land right around Arches National Park and in Labyrinth Canyon and Mineral Point
As we may have heard Bushes/Cheney have rushed through rules so they could give away oil drilling leases to their buddies at warehouse prices. This is not unique to Utah but also in Oregon, I think the Oregon Gov is however now opposed to these new rules/leases so the clock may be able to be run out until Obama takes office in Oregon's case. DeChristopher got arrested or escorted out by Fed agents. He's expecting charges to follow. He was successful in delaying the sale of at least 22000 acres for who knows how long, or better yet scuttled the entire auction. We'll see.
Does any one know Oregon's Gov been able to delay auctions in his state?
Here is a clip from DeChristopher's interview with Democracy Now.
http://www.democracynow.org/...
AMY GOODMAN: Well, thanks. Why don’t you start off by telling us what happened on Friday? What did you start off planning to do that day? Where were you?
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER: I started off, actually, at a final exam at the university and went straight from there down to the BLM office. And I saw some protesters walking back and forth outside, and I knew that I wanted to do more than that and that this kind of injustice demanded a higher level of disruption. And so, I just decided that I wanted to go inside and cause a bigger disruption.
And from there, I found it really easy to get inside and become a bidder, and went inside and was in the auction room. And once I was in there, I realized that any kind of speech or disruption or something like that wasn’t going to be very effective, but I saw pretty quickly that I could have a pretty major impact on the way this worked. And it just took me a little bit of time to build up the courage to do that, knowing what the consequences would be. And so, I started bidding and started driving up the prices for some of the oil companies. And throughout that time, I knew that I could be doing more and could really set aside some acres to really be protected. And so, then I started winning bids and disrupting it as clearly as I could.
AMY GOODMAN: How does it work? You get a paddle?
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER: Yeah. I just had a bidder paddle and just kept raising it as much as I could.
AMY GOODMAN: And you ended up buying what? Over 22,000 acres of land?
My biggest concern is that the Feds would force this guy to actually pay for these leases, which I suspect is in the thousands of dollars. I'm sure he probably can't on a student's income. Hopefully some environmental groups lawyers step up to the plate and show this guy some love. Usually auctions for big ticket items verify you have the money first before they allow you in. This just reinforces the hast at which BushescoCheney where trying to sell these leases. They wanted to pre empt a Pres Obama so badly that they skipped the verification of funds part. Serves them right.
Update Thanks to 'second gen' for this link Tim DeChristopher's Lease Purchase Fund