Apparent loss by activist veils win

Much has been made of the plight of Tim DeChristopher, the University of Utah student who disrupted a December Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction in Salt Lake City with bogus bids.

In the wake of his actions, DeChristopher has been indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of auction-rigging and assessed an $81,000 fine by the BLM.

But what would on the surface appear to be a loss for DeChristopher and environmental activism veils an almost across-the-board win.

The same government that is charging DeChristopher with felonies and imposing the fine has also, by withdrawing 77 of the parcels leased in December, effectively negated the auction that he disrupted.

The government has done its own "DeChristopher."

In the process, it has thrown a cloud of caution, consternation and controversy on future oil and gas lease auctions.

That much was evident in an auction held by the Utah office of the BLM two weeks ago — the first since the December debacle — where each of the 98 parcels up for bid was under protest by one environmental group or another.

The result was low, uncertain bidding.

According to Don Colton, president of Pioneer Oil & Gas of South Jordan, who attended both the December and March auctions, every one of the 55 parcels bought at the March auction is now subject to further review, portending more delays and possible withdrawals.

"What if you were at a car auction bidding for a car and even if you got it you didn't know that meant you'd get it? And if you did get it, your money might be tied up for a long time? How much would you bid?" Colton asks.

In Colton's view, despite DeChristopher's walk to the bar of justice, "the environmentalists won and they will continue to win."

Colton's chief complaint is that the protests never end. He points out that the BLM has a system in place, and has had for some time, that provides for public review, input and objection from the very start of the land-lease process.

This vetting can take years before the land is finally put up for lease.

"Once it goes up for bid, that should be it," Colton says. "There ought to be a limit on protestability."

He's not alone.