Flashpoint in Salt Lake City: One Man Takes a Stand

Flashpoint in Salt Lake City: One Man Takes a Stand

A snippet from the article:

I met Tim DeChristopher at the Pricing Carbon Conference in Middletown, CT, last November. I was on a shuttle bus, waiting to head over to the Wesleyan campus for the morning session, when he walked on. He was just 28 years old–but I was awed.

I had seen Tim on Democracy Now and had been so inspired by his courage and clarity of purpose. In the waning days of the Bush administration, Tim, a University of Utah economics major and former wilderness guide, bid on and won nearly $1.8 million worth of federal oil and gas leases before confessing to federal agents that he had no intention of or ability to pay for them. Tim was charged with two felonies—interfering with an auction and making false statements on bidding forms. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines if convicted.

Tim prevented the sale of thousands of acres of pristine Utah land that were being auctioned off by the Bureau of Land Management at bargain bin prices as a gift from the Bush administration to the oil industry. The defense is scheduled to rest this afternoon and place the case in the jury’s hands, just three days after the trial began.