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Activist disrupts BLM auction by running up bids

I hope he is fined for such a cowardly act. What an ego to waste others time,effort and money. Including tax payer dollars. I hope some of those involved in the auction also file civil actions against this man. I wonder if he has ever worked an honest day in his life or if he just causes trouble for those who do.

Good job man. Why didn't I think of that. Anyone who cares about Utah as a sustainable place to live rather than America's Wasteland applauds you. We don't want their big drilling equipment next to our Arches.

This is really the final stain on the Bush Administration. This really shows poor on Utah's leaders as well who didn't step up and fight this more.

Let's all hope that Obama's team can step in and reverse these leases and keep these sensitive areas as quite sacred places. There is not very many places people in this world can go for pure peace, these lands are some of them.

Bravo to this guy and the protestors. Hopefully we can look past our greed as a nation and look to a better way. Our governments destroyed our rails in the 1920's and 1920's in one of the biggest and most covered up scandals in the last century.

Don't support big oil. Support clean renewable energy resources that don't require lands to be torn up and skies to be polluted.

Walk, Bike, Train, and finally if you have to... take your car on occasion. Does anyone enjoy the gray cloud over SLC?

No need to fine him, just make him pay for the leases he won. $1.7 million in debt should make him think twice.

While I, like SUWA, disagree with the illegal actions done here, I have a message for George W. Bush:
You reap what you sow.
You pull this on the state of Utah at the last minute, unethically, and people will respond unethically.

Throw him in jail and let him enjoy the environment there.

The environmentalists have declared war on the oil/gas/energy industries. It's time to fight back with tough consequences for illegal tactics that they use.

Typical Ute...should we expect something different?

TO: rok
This act is a lot of things, but cowardly it is not. And I fail to see what basis would exist for civil actions by other bidders. Finally, the article says the guy is a student, so you're right he probably hasn't ever worked an honest day in his life. Still, it sounds like you are angry and just lashing out in any way you can. Might want to consider thinking it through a little.

Where do we send money for this man's legal defense fund?

How DARE that Bush (who never met a payroll and wrecked every business he was ever involved in) despoil America's natural beauty on his way out the door?

Glad SOMEBODY found a way to fight back!

On the contrary, he is a man with guts who committed an act of civil disobedience. Sometimes, that's what it takes to change things. Remember Vietnam? Probably not.

My guess is that after Obama becomes President, the next scheduled sale in February won't occur, and those parcels areound Arches and Canyonlands that he "won" won't be sold at all.

Bravo Tim. You have my admiration.

There were no parcels "around arches and canyon lands". That is a lie told by the enviros and believed by the uninformed.

I don't believe for a minute that SUWA had nothing to do with that fraudulent bidder. That sale was Blochaded, big time. Many of the individuals who work for SUWA are pathological liars.

I can't believe that our state is even leasing out this prime pieces of land, part of the public patrimony!

...fraud and breach of contract.

You uninformed protestors should get your facts straight. The STATE did not lease anything. These were all FEDERAL leases.

it was not a last minute rush by the Bush administration, but part of the mandated quarterly sale by the BLM, merely business as usual.

It's interesting how much money goes to the big guns.

A SUWA lawyer (one of Bloch's stooges) was communicating with the fraudulent bidder right during the bidder's fraudulent conduct! SUWA knew what was going on. I can't believe the comments posted here cheering this guy. He committed an illegal act. Good grief. The guy's a chicken, coward, a narcissist looking for attention. He and SUWA should be held accountable for this crime. SUWA has really lost respect over this one. What a bunch of cowards.

Now he needs to fined or jailed. We need to change the auction process to allow for the second highest bidder to retain the lease or to immediately pay for the lease upon the winning of bid, or bidders must prove they have the ability to pay before being allowed to make a bid.

Some facts about the land "near Arches."
1. That land has been mined and re-mined for decades. Helloooo ignoramuses! It's been the object of extractve activities like uranium prospecting, seismic testing, and yes previous drilling.

2. Yet the enviros call that land pristine and of wilderness quality. What does that tell you? It tells you that the prior extractive activities did not destroy the land, bur rather it was all reclaimed. They shoot themselves in the foot, their own claims of pristineness proves that the land can be developed and later reclaimed. Hellooo ignoramuses!

3. The land is not so "near" as the enviro liars claim. Drilling activities on the land in question would only be visible as a remote small item in the far distance, and then only from the most extreme corners of the Park, where virtually no visitor ventures. Not from Delicate Arch, nor from any other main attraction of the Park. Again, Helloooo ignoramuses.

Ignorance is something to behold. Oh the blochheaded ignorance of it all! Mankind is sooo ignorant!

Bloch of SUWA is right; this was an unneeded "distraction". The BLM was backpedaling on a really terrible proposal, Obama will be taking charge in weeks, and this just muddies the water. Here's one environmentalist that is not cheering the guy on.