by Bonnie Hulkower, New York, New York on 01. 8.09
Tim DeChristopher after his now-famous auction bidding. Photo via the Salt Lake Tribune.
Is protesting via an auction paddle the new style of eco-civil disobedience? As we previously noted , the Bush Administration’s sale of leases on Utah’s wild lands drew complaints from many environmental groups. "This is the fire sale,” said Stephen Bloch of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “This is the Bush administration’s last great gift to the oil and gas industry.”
After receiving complaints from the National Park Service, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had dropped half of the initially proposed 359,000 acres from the sale. Still, with many acres up for grabs, when the auction took place on December 19 Tim DeChistopher, a passionate environmentalist and University of Utah student got tired of protesting outside, went in, registered, and grabbed a bidding paddle.
DeChristopher’s initial intention was simply to disrupt the action, but, swept up in the auction, he ended up outbidding oil companies for thirteen parcels of land without having any means to pay for them, as well as driving up the price for several other parcels. A BLM deputy director accused Tim of “tainting the entire auction.” The BLM gave the bidders the option to withdraw their bids if they felt they had overpaid for them, but fearing that the parcels may not be allowed to go to auction again under President Obama, most were willing to hold onto them.
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