Reader comments
Activist defends his lease tactics

How does this young man travel to Colorado? Does that method entail the use of any fossil fuels? How is his home in Colorado heated? The water used to wash his clothes or bathe? What powers his computer that has received so many e-mails? Will his "legal team" use any gas, oil, or carbon based energy during their work on his defense? My guess is that he enjoys many of the benefits of energy produced from land like that he sought to "protect". It's a pity that he is driving up the prices for all of us.

Well done Mr. Christopher.

Now I hope you are convicted of a felony and that you get to spend the next 8-15 years discussing environmental philosophy with "Bubba" and "Lester" in federal prison.

Choices have consequences.

to make a criminal into a hero.

I call somebody who does something like this a dishonest liar. I hope that he faces proper consequences for his dishonesty. It is OK to disagree but don't sacrifice your integrity over it.

There is no way the general public supports this man. He has been brain washed into thinking that mankind in general is evil and that we will ruin our planet. That will never happen despite what Disney (Wall-E) and other liberal media sources try to tell us. Drill here and drill now.

Environmentalists are anarchists. For them, who cares if laws are broken in the name of saving the world . . . and for what?

They try to save our forests by spiking trees that hurt loggers, delay or stop timber sales that drive up our forests fuel load and then what happens? . . , the elevated fuel loads drive forest fires that destroy the very forests they are trying to save!

They try to save mountain lions from hunting by banning it in California and now pets, children and adults are atttacked often because the animals have no fear and their numbers are exploding there.

I could go on and on about things they try to save that end up being destroyed or cause unnatural events in our every day lives. Until environmentalists understand and deal with the fact that man is part of the natural development of the environment and not exclusive from it, they will continue to only be the eco-terrorists that aren't much better than common criminals.

This guy is only disrupting his own life by spending some time in jail where the only environment he can hope to save is his own personal space!

It will be interesting to see how many environmental hypocrites log on with their mineral based technology in support of this economic terrorist.

THis should be a crime --- why isn't the guy in jail?

An anarchical society is nothing to celebrate. Just because we may personally disagree with any governmental policy doesn't give us the right to abuse law and order just because we think our individual views are more enlightened than others. THat's societal breakdown and anarchy. It's disgusting that this guy has been beseiged with so many reporter calls... as if he's some brave guy doing some noble thing. He ought to be in jail. A domestic terrorist.

Jail time would be wonderful for this incredibly dishonest person.

There is conservationism, which believes in smart use of God given resourses.

Then there is radical evnironmentalism, which is about destruction of all things mankind; hatred of man. The methods include lying, cheating, stealing and even killing. The killings are rare but happen and get covered up quite nicely. About 6 years ago a radical environmentalist shot and killed the driver of a grader working on a county road down near Moab. It was reported by the media as just a random act of violence. The truth is the person was a radical environmentalist involved in the RS477 Road wars.

This idiot is a radical environmentalist and by throwing his marxist carcas in jail we may save lives down the line.

Shame on the BLM and on the company hired to auction off the leases. When I go to an auto auction, the auctioneer verifies I have enough funds to at least pay a deposit. Tim negotiated contracts with us through the BLM. I don't care if the entire enviromental movement passes the hat in his behalf, or if the BLM garnishes his income for the rest of his life. Tim it's time to show a shred of integrity, pony up and pay for your purchases.

Believe?

I think this is great. Now I think he should be sued for the amount of money he bid and forced to pay it. I think it will be great that he bought them and refuses to do anything with them, but he played the game and should pay for his play. The same means that would be used if he purchased anything else of value and refused to pay should be used.

Interesting. You'd think the auctioneer would vet the people bidding a little better. It seems like you have to be preapproved to even bid for a used car at auction from private sellers for a few thousand dollars. Its amazing they'd let someone bid on millions of dollars of leases that has no way of paying for them. I assume things will change quickly in response to this-funny they didn't see it coming.

I see two defective parties to this deal. One is BLM for allowing an individual to participate in the auction without proving he has the financial wherewithal to pay for his purchases. As a former banker, I have never seen such sloppy business practices, but OH WELL, it is a governmental Agency.

Secondly, this young man put his thumb in the eye of THE MAN, now he should stand good to pay for the costs of re-auctioning these leases. He should be personally liable for these costs. I will personally donate my time to collect the bill.

Finally, if he is allowed to walk free without taking responsibility for his behavior then the taxpayers should be outraged. The incoming Secretary of the Interior, Salazar, will probably give this kid a medal for his bravery.

Dumb environmentalists like him will and have been our countries demise.

A dishonest man who causes economic harm to others? This man's actions were disgraceful.

It is true that he is liable for the $1.7 million. He is also required to show due diligence on the leases, [drill], if he does not he will be guilty of cheating the U. S. again and the leases will be lost and auctioned again.

Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition. You were Rosa Parks for a day, and I salute you.

If the FBI has nothing better to do than an "investigation" of this incident maybe we can save some tax dollars by laying some agents off. i doubt if he did anything illegal. If there were no prequalifications for bidding there are probably no laws with regard to closing on the bids. He just upset the good old boys game a little. For all of the semi-literate redneck comments above, I wonder if they are mostly from one person? This action doesn't hurt us as a society. It might cut down on the profits a little bit for the speculators and oil companies who paid a higher price for some of the leases. They willingly made their bids. The money goes to the government- state, local and federal. This guy's action actually benefited us!