CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Utah Activist Jailed for Two Years

For blocking bids on federal energy leases.

At least he doesn't have to pay for the land. Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $10,000 for running up bids at an auction for oil rights to Utah national parks. DeChristopher crashed the federal energy auction in 2008, offering to lease 13 parcels for $1.8 million, costing developers hundreds of thousands of dollars in higher bids. In a half-hour address at his sentencing, DeChristopher told the judge, "You have authority over my life, but not my principles,” and that he would “continue to confront the system that threatens our future." Outside the courthouse, 26 protesters were arrested after they bound themselves together with plastic ties and blocked traffic.