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<h1><font size=4><b>Environmentalist Tim DeChristopher Found Guilty of
Sabotaging Oil and Gas Auction; Faces up to 10 Years in Jail<br><br>
</b></font></h1><h4><b><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/">March 04,
2011</a></b></h4><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/4/environmentalist_tim_dechristopher_found_guilty_of" eudora="autourl">
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/4/environmentalist_tim_dechristopher_found_guilty_of<br>
<br>
</a>A federal jury in Salt Lake City has convicted environmental activist
Tim DeChristopher of two felony counts for disrupting the auction of more
than 100,000 acres of federal land for oil and gas drilling.
DeChristopher was charged in December 2008 with infiltrating a public
auction and disrupting the Bush administration’s last-minute move to
auction off oil and gas exploitation rights on vast swaths of federal
land. A student at the time, DeChristopher posed as a bidder and bought
22,000 acres of land with no intent to pay in an attempt to save the
property from drilling. He faces up to ten years in prison. DeChristopher
joins us today to talk about the verdict. <br><br>
<b>JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> A federal jury in Salt Lake City has convicted
environmental activist Tim DeChristopher of two felony counts for
disrupting the auction of over 100,000 acres of federal land for oil and
gas drilling. DeChristopher was charged in December 2008 with
infiltrating a public auction and disrupting the Bush administration’s
last-minute move to auction off oil and gas exploration rights on vast
swaths of federal land. A student at the time, DeChristopher posed as a
bidder and bought 22,000 acres of land with no intention to pay in an
attempt to save the property from drilling. He faces up to ten years in
prison.<br><br>
<b>AMY GOODMAN:</b> The jury deliberated for nearly five hours yesterday
before reaching its decision. After the verdict, DeChristopher emerged
from the courthouse and addressed his supporters.<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Everything that went on inside that building
tried to convince me that I was alone and I was weak. They tried to
convince me that I was like a little finger out there on my own that can
easily be broken. And all of you out here were the reminder for all of us
that I wasn’t just a finger all alone in there, but that I was connected
to a hand with many fingers that could unite as one fist and that that
fist could not be broken by the power that they have in there.<br><br>
<dd>That fist is not a symbol of violence. That fist is a symbol that we
will not be misled into thinking we are alone. We will not be lied to and
told we are weak. We will not be divided, and we will not back down. That
fist is a symbol that we are connected and that we are powerful. It’s a
symbol that we hold true to our vision of a healthy and just world, and
we are building the self-empowering movement to make it happen. All those
authorities in there wanted me to think like a thinker. But our children
are calling to us to think like a fist.<br><br>
<dd>And we know that now I’ll have to go to prison. We know that now
that’s the reality. But that’s just a job that I have to do. That’s the
role that I face. And many before me have gone to jail for justice. And
if we’re going to achieve our vision, many after me will have to join me,
as well.<br><br>
</dl>AMY GOODMAN:</b> Tim DeChristopher speaking outside the federal
courthouse in Salt Lake City yesterday. He now joins us live from Salt
Lake City.<br><br>
Tim, welcome to Democracy Now!</i> Explain first exactly what you did and
when you did it. Talk about leaving your classroom after you took a
graduate test in December. What year was it?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> It was December 19th, 2008. And as you said, I
finished up my final exam that morning and went to the BLM oil and gas
auction that was being held in downtown Salt Lake, with the intent to
draw enough attention to what was going on there that the government
could actually stop and rethink their actions, which at that point the
Obama administration had already indicated that they knew it was
illegitimate and that if they had any opportunity, they would like to
stop what was happening, but it was unclear that they would actually have
that power if the auction was completed.<br><br>
JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> And how did you actually<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> So I went there and was just looking for any
opportunity to do that. And when I walked in, I was asked if I wanted to
be a bidder. And so, I said yes. And once I got inside then, I saw the
opportunity to really stand in the way of what was going on and just
couldn’t pass up that opportunity, so I started bidding and eventually
started winning parcels and winning every parcel until they stopped the
auction and took me out.<br><br>
JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> Now, how did theyso, all they did was ask you if you
wanted to be a bidder? You didn’t have to prequalify or deposit a check
or in some way show some bonding just to be able to bid on the
land?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> No, I just had to show a driver’s license and fill
out a short form with my name and address and that sort of
thing.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> Did you expect you would be able to do this?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> No. No, I didn’t expect that at all. You know, I
expected to go in there and make a speech or something like that. And
other folks that were in the protest outside told me that I would just
get dragged out by security at the door. And I said, "Well, then
let’s get dragged out by security at the door." And no one would go
in with me, so I went in, and rather than drag me out, they asked me if I
wanted to be a bidder.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> And so, then talk about what you proceeded to do,
Tim.<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Well, seeing the opportunity inside to really
stand in the way of what was going on, I couldn’t turn my back on that
opportunity, and so first started bidding to drive up the prices, and did
that for quite awhile. Most of the parcels were going for $10 or $12 an
acre, and so I was driving those prices up, and then, finally, decided
that I had to actually win those parcels and started doing that and won
about 14 parcels before they stopped the auction and then took me into
custody.<br><br>
JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> So, in other words, at some point they recognized that
you were not a genuine bidder? How did that happen?<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> How did they recognize that you were not an oil or gas
company?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Well, there was actually a lot of testimony from
the BLM law enforcement agents that were there at the auction. During the
trial, he testified quite a bit to the fact that they knew from the
moment that I walked in that I wasn’t a normal oil and gas bidder. They
didn’t recognize me from these auctions that were held on a regular
basis. And they noticed that I was younger, that I was dressed different,
that I didn’t act like the others. And so, they indicated that they were
suspicious the whole time, and they just needed to wait until it was
absolutely clear, that there was no doubt in their mind, that I was not
an oil and gas company representative.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> So, once you did this and you bought this land, picking
up paddle number 70, did you plan to pay for it?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Well, I didn’t know what the options were at the
time. That was still somewhat unclear. I talked to some folks right
afterwards that afternoon who offered to help with fundraising. And it
wasn’t until the next day that former director of the BLM, Patrick Shea,
who directed the agency under the Clinton administration, contacted me
and offered to represent me. And then he informed me that there were a
lot of different ways that these things could play out and a lot of
different options and that raising the money was still a legitimate
possibility. And so, we raised the money very quickly, actually,
surprisingly quickly, and offered the initial payment to the BLM for the
parcels that I had won. But they rejected that payment and said that I
wasn’t bidding under normal circumstances, so they couldn’t accept that
payment anyway. But that’s all stuff that the jury was not allowed to
know. We weren’t allowed to tell the jury that I offered the payment to
the BLM. All we were allowed to talk about in the trial was what happened
on December 19th and nothing else.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> And this ultimately invalidated the auctionis that
right?your participation. So explain what happened, from the Bush
administration into the Obama administration.<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Well, it wasn’t actually my participation that
invalidated the auction. It was my participation that drew a lot of
attention to what was going on in the auction. But there were other
complaints against the auction and lawsuits against the auction, which
once the new administration came in, they invalidated almost the entire
thing and admitted that they weren’t following their own rules in the
first place. And it wasn’t because of my participation, but because of
the way that they had operated and locked the public out of the
decision-making process for public land, that the auction was
invalidated. But again, that’s something that the jury was not allowed to
know. The verdict in this case was a pretty much foregone conclusion,
because we weren’t allowed to tell the jury any of that stuff.<br><br>
JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> And on what basis did the judge exclude this other
important information, like, for instance, the fact that you were raising
the money to actually pay for what you had bid for?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> The judge said that it was irrelevant and that it
would confuse the jury, so they shouldn’t be allowed to know it.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> So, what was the picture that the jury<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> That was a frequent refrain that we heard during
this trial.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> So, Tim DeChristopher, what was the picture that the
jury got? What did they understand with what was limited, what they
weren’t able to know?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> I was able to explain to them some of my views. I
was able to talk about what my intent was there at the auction. I was
limited to pretty brief comments about that, but I was able to explain to
them why I was there, what I was thinking. But I wasn’t able to introduce
any evidence that supported what I was thinking. I wasn’t able to
introduce anything that happened before December 19th, about the
corruption within the Department of the Interior in the Bush
administration, or anything that happened after December 19th, either me
raising the money or the auction being canceled. So, I was only able to
throw my views out there as unsubstantiated claims of what I was
thinking.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> What is the reason you did what you did, Tim?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Well, I saw this auction as, first off, a fraud
against the American people, that the government wasn’t following their
own rules and was locking the public out of the decision-making process
for public property. I also saw it as a real threat to my future, because
of the impact on climate change that this kind of "drill now, think
later" mentality was having, and an attack on our public lands, on
our natural heritage, in pretty pristine and irreplaceable areas in
southern Utah.<br><br>
JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> And is it your intention to appeal the verdict in any
way?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> And so, it my intent was to stand in the way of
that.<br><br>
JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> Is it your intention to appeal the verdict in any
way?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> I have no idea. We haven’t really talked about
that with my legal team. That’s something that will happen after
sentencing.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> I just wanted to read a part of a letter that was signed
by Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben and Terry Tempest Williams, and it says,
"When Tim disrupted the auction, he did so in the fine tradition of
non-violent civil disobedience that changed so many unjust laws in [this]
country’s past. Tim’s [upcoming] trial is an occasion to raise the alarm
once more about the peril our planet faces. The situation is still
fluid"and it goes on, because this was written before the trial
date. But it was under the Bush administration that you did this. Under
the Obama administration, then-Interior Secretary, the former senator
from Colorado, Ken Salazar, said these landswhat statement did he make?
He said these lands would not be sold?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Initially they just stopped the auction and said
that they were going to take a second look at everything that was going
on. And once they did, they divided the parcels into three categories:
those that should never be sold or never be drilled for oil; those that
are appropriate for drilling at a future date, that couldthat are
eligible for being re-auctioned because they’re surrounded by existing
oilfields; and those that need more study, just because nobody had ever
really looked at where they were or what kind of qualities those lands
really had.<br><br>
JUAN GONZALEZ:</b> And how big is the amount of land that they initially
agreed to put up for sale?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> I believe the initial agreement was somewhere
around 300,000 acres, but a lot of that was taken off because of the
initial wave of protests from the National Park Service and
others.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> And so, under the Obama administration, it was then that
you were charged, is that right, Tim DeChristopher?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> Right. It was almost two months after the auction
had been invalidated that the Obama Justice Department pressed those
charges against me.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> Finally, in that same letter by Naomi Klein and Bill
McKibben and Terry Tempest Williams, they say, "The government calls
that 'violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act' and
thinks he should spend ten years in jail for the crime; we call it a
noble act, a profound gesture made on behalf of all of us and of the
future." Tim DeChristopher, do you have any regrets?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> No, I have no regrets at all, I mean, especially
seeing the show of support outside of the courthouse this week. There
were people were out there all day long, all week, and they were singing.
You know, they were showing their joy and resolve in the face of
intimidation. And I think that’s the really important thing that came out
of this, is that people showed that regardless of what happens to me,
they’re not going to be intimidated into being obedient to an unjust
status quo.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> Tim DeChristopher, we thank you very much for being with
us. When is the sentencing?<br><br>
TIM DeCHRISTOPHER:</b> The sentencing is June 23rd.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> Thanks for joining us. Tim DeChristopher, activist,
founder of the environmental group Peaceful Uprising, he was convicted
yesterday on two felony counts for disrupting an auction of public land
in December 2008. He faces up to 10 years in prison.<br><br>
<br><br>
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