Way back in 2008, Equipoiseposted this threadabout a “prankster” who attended an auction held by the federal government so that energy companies could bid for leases on public lands, where they would be permitted to explore and drill for oil and gas. Tim DeChristopher, as an act of protest, bid on 14 leases and won, but he didn’t have the money to actually pay for them.
I’ve been following this story over the past couple years. Since there have been recent developments I thought I’d post an update thread.
In March, DeChristopher was found guilty of two felony counts of disrupting a federal auction.
On July 26th, he’ll be sentenced. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.
Good. I hope he does every day of the 10 years as well. He committed fraud and wasted lots of other people’s time and money in the process. What, does he think that the land won’t be used to drill now or if that ever would be the case? Of course not, he is a simple attention whore with poorly thought out way of getting real things done instead of just appearing in the news. If he is a truly unselfish civil disobedience protester, maybe he can starve himself in solitary confinement to the sound of the world’s smallest violin.
Actually, a month after the auction a federal judge temporarily halted the sale of many of the parcels, finding that the Bureau of Land Management had violated certain environmental protection laws pertaining to air quality and historic preservation. And in 2009, the Dept of the Interior shelved the 77 contested lease parcels, including ones Tim won.