“Once I started buying up every parcel, they understood pretty clearly what was going on ... they stopped the auction, and some federal agents came in and took me out. I guess there was a lot of chaos, and they didn’t really know how to proceed at that point.”

Attorney and former member of the Bureau of Land Management Patrick Shea who is representing DeChristopher remarked, “What Tim did was in the best tradition of civil disobedience; he did this without causing any physical or material harm. His purpose was to draw attention to the illegitimacy and immorality of the process.”

There is a long tradition of disrupting land development in Utah. Far more than the abundance of scenic beauty will be affected by these Bureau of Land Management sales. According to some reports, the BLM has not analyzed impacts on ozone levels from 2,300 wells drilled in the area since 2004 ... nor has it predicted air impacts from the roughly 6,300 new wells approved in the plan. Other reports indicate that the Colorado River provides power to homes for 3 million people, waters 15 percent of the nation’s crops and provides drinking water to one in 12 Americans. A greed driven rush to develop oil, gas and uranium deposits along the river and its tributaries bodes grave consequences for its future.

DeChristofer didn’t set a billboard ablaze, didn’t push or shove, or even shout obscenities out from behind a protest line. What he did do though was create a diversion by merely waving a bidder’s paddle, therefore throwing a monkey-wrench smack in the middle of a federal oil- and gas-lease auction, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern Utah national parks won’t be opened to drilling, at least for a while.

After being questioned by federal authorities, DeChristopher was released with charges currently being weighed by the U.S. attorney.

DeChristopher looking back stated,

“This has really been emotional and hopeful for me to see the kind of support over the last couple of days ... for all the problems that people can talk about in this country and for all the apathy and the eight years of oppression and the decades of eroding civil liberties, America is still very much the kind of place that when you stand up for what is right, you never stand alone.”

DeChristopher’s disruption of the auction has temporarily blocked the Bush-willed land grab by the oil and gas industries. If the student can come up with $45,000 by Dec. 29, he can make the first payment on the land, possibly avoiding any claim of fraud. If the BLM decides to re-auction the land that will not happen until after the Obama administration takes over. We’ll be waiting for an update!

Regardless, the outcome of the sales, if they happen at all, will most likely be all together different, thanks to the quick thinking action of an environmental activist, raising his voice, along with his bidding paddle, in opposition to the unwholesome sales.