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1) What happened to the leases Tim won?
The “leases” no longer exist as leases; they were cancelled by Interior Secretary Salazar. The revoked parcels were subsequently broken up into three categories: parcels appropriate for future auction since they are surrounded by existing oil development, those never appropriate for future auction, because of their wilderness value, and those requiring further consideration to determine the appropriateness of drilling.
After being evaluated by Secretary Salazar, only 29 of the 116 parcels up for auction went through. Most of them were permanently dismissed; a handful of the parcels warranted further evaluation.
2) What are the charges against Tim, exactly?
Tim has been indicted with one count of violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act, and one count of False Statement. Each is a federal felony carrying a potential penalty of five years each and a total of $750,000 in fines. The indictment is available at http://www.bidder70.org/resources/view/141959/.
3) Why has it taken so long for the trial to happen; what were the reasons for the delays?
Tim and his defense team only weighed in on one of the delays; the other six delays were by the prosecution. For that reason, any idea about what caused the delays is speculation. It is likely that many of the delays are because the prosecution wants the trial to happen quietly, and they’re hoping that sooner or later, people will forget about this and stop paying attention.
4) How did they get away with the auction in the first place?
Many people recognized the impropriety of the auction, and sounded the alarm; especially the Sothern Utah Wilderness Alliance, who brought the lawsuit against the BLM which, in concert with Tim’s disruption of the auction, resulted in Secretary Salazar dismissing the vast majority of the parcels that were originally auctioned.
Before the auction, the attitude of the Bush administration was dismissive of the illegality of their actions, and of the people’s knowledge of that illegality. They only stopped when they were forced to stop. Due to the attention and pressure from this auction, the regulations around parceling public lands for oil and gas leases have been significantly changed by the current administration; it’s probably the area where the Obama administration has been the toughest in standing up to the oil industry.
5) Why did Secretary Salazar dismiss most of the leases?
SUWA, along with environmental groups, had already begun a lawsuit to block the Bush administration from auctioning these leases. The suit alleged that the BLM failed to complete the analysis required by federal law for the “protection of national and cultural resources.” Specifically, the Bureau hadn’t evaluated the effects of drilling on the parcels to ambient air quality in the surrounding national parks and recreation areas, and had neglected to adequately communicate with other federal agencies, like the National Parks Service.
The result of the lawsuit is that the vast majority of the auction parcels were permanently dismissed by Secretary Salazar, after the auction was disrupted. Tim’s actions worked in harmony with SUWA’s tactics, and the ultimate result was that those lands are safe. Because the lawsuit wasn’t quick enough to prevent the auction from going forth neither Tim’s actions nor SUWA’s lawsuit alone would have worked to stop this auction from leasing Utah’s national park lands to oil and gas companies. Together with Tim, the Utah environmental community safeguarded those lands on behalf of all Utahns.
6) What is Tim’s defense going to be, if he can’t use “Necessity”?
The necessity defense would have allowed Tim to offer the jury his motivations, so that they could weigh whether Tim’s nonviolent action was the “lesser of two evils” in that it stopped the development of rare and wild lands as sources of dirty energy and contributions to catastrophic climate change.
The necessity defense would have allowed Tim and his defense team to piece everything together all at once about why the auction was so unjust. Since Benson has ruled that Tim can’t use that defense (or even comprehensively discuss the auction’s illegitimacy, or describe Tim’s own motives), his defense team will attempt to push that information anyway they can, and hope that someone on the jury knows they have the right to make any decision they want for whatever reason they want. Not too much about Tim’s defense can be made public, but we do know that it has been very much limited by the prosecution.
7) What was Tim’s Sentence?
On July 26th, 2011 Tim DeChristopher was sentenced with 2 years in Federal Prison, a 3 year probation and a $10,000 fine. He was taken into custody immediately from the Courtroom and is awaiting transfer to a Federal Prison in Davis County Jail in Utah. To get more information about visits, donations to Tim’s legal defense fund, or writing to Tim, please contact Dylan at: dylan@peacefuluprising.org
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Tim has to fight this injustice and we all must stand by his side and walk in his footsteps. We should not be intimidated by injustice since injustice will not prevail. We are fighting this for future generations like our forefathers fought for ours. We fight greed and pollution, we fight for a government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth, and yet now we even fight for the earth. Since the prosecutors use the law against innocent there must be something wrong with the law or else the fault is with the prosecutors! I bet the fault is with with the prosecutors are corrupt.
Okay, time for some straight talk:
1. Don’t care what you think about climate change, this is outrageous and must be stopped.
2. Destroying pristine and public land by auctioning to corporate interests is never to be taken lightly whether a threat to global warming or not.
3. The judge not allowing the motive for the acts is absurd. How can one judge the guilt or innocence of an act without knowing its motive? Not wanting the courtroom to turn into a debate on global warming is not justification for not allowing the motive to be introduced.
4. Tim’s acts worked and the auction was largely invalidated by the incoming administration. How can that not be seen as relevant? I’m sorry if that fact is inconvenient for the prosecution, but that’s because there should be no prosecution.
5. I really don’t know why this has been allowed to go on this long or reach this point, but it must be stopped. No one would be in favor of Tim going to jail for this.
6. The auction let him in and gave him a bidding paddle. Was there no verification of who was bidding… that they had the means to settle their bids? Sounds like an auction management problem to me. Don’t want this to happen in the future? No problem. Stop handing out bidding paddles to 27 year olds who happen to be standing around. Problem solved.
Everyone should tell everyone they know to get on their computers and start firing off emails to their congressional representatives in the House of Representatives. State senators are fine too, but members of the House for sure. They run for office every two years and can be much more sensitive to the concerns of their constituencies. Everyone… Do something today. Tell others. Stop this injustice… This craziness. This is our country. Don’t let this kind of crap stand.
The government’s prosecution sounds weak,in that the auction was invalidated
because the BLM failed to follow its own rules regarding the auction. it seems to me
to be a moot point. I don’t believe even if Tim is convicted,the conviction will hold upon
appeal. The whole case smacks of government retribution,not justice.
His attorney should be filing a “lack of jurisdictional subject matter” before trial….it’s a motion saying he can’t be held as a “crime” has not been committed…
Look up “crime” what is wrong with his attorneys (?) most of the attorneys in Utah are against government, they know this information…. Were they bought off?
The above man is incorrect.. NO LAWS HAVE BEEN BROKEN….THERE MUST BE A INJURY…
thank you for protecting utah’s beautiful, natural wilderness areas tim, and for sacrificing yourself to preserve the plants, animals and scenery so that others may enjoy some of the most unique and special places on earth for generations to come.
Can we form a “human wave” outside the courthouse (as has been done in Egypt, Libya, and the other enlightened North Africa, Persian Gulf countries) to show solidarity for this gentleman and his/our pursuit of justice in the face of Fortune 500 “fat cats”?
Should we not pursue a Bill making Public Land sales a decision by The People? Such a Bill should make it necessary for ALL American citizens to decide the fate of OUR Public Lands: not just the local residence, or the special interest groups but everyone in the United States of America. After all, “Of The People, for The People, by The People”, is still true, is it not?
Tim is right to do what he did and he is brave. Unfortunately, in the judicial system there is a vast chasm between “justice” and “law”. According to FAQ # 6 Benson, who I think is the judge, is not allowing Tim to use the necessity defense which would have allowed Tim to essentially say, “I broke a little law to prevent a great injustice from happening.” It is pretty obvious that Judge Benson is on the side of the prosecution. Hoping one of jurors has a conscience and does the right thing, is a roll of the dice. It might turn out good. It might turn out bad. When the deck is stacked against an activist, it is okay for the activist to retreat. We need more activists freely wandering the streets and less activists incarcerated for felonies. A felony conviction often takes away a persons voting and gun rights. Take the misdemeanor plea deal, Tim. Live to fight another day.