Reader comments
Groups soliciting funds to buy BLM leases

Ken Sleight | 10:58 a.m. Dec. 25, 2008

It would take millions to buy the leases - present and future. We need now to raise sufficient funds to defend Tim's great actions. And to prevent future BLM leases on our most-treasured public lands.

Tim has surely been a catalyst. Let's use some of those funds to help sustain those that would stand in the way of later developers, operators and machines that would despoil those most-beautiful lands.

No Big Deal | 8:59 p.m. Dec. 25, 2008

He cost the oil companies in the room hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's just a fraction of what the oil company execs make.

Stephen | 8:07 a.m. Dec. 26, 2008

The economics are ridiculous and Tim DeChristopher's genius was to figure this out. Mr. DeChristopher's lease bids amount to about a nickel from every person in America. Put another way, it is about $1 from each in the upper income quintile. And if corporations hadnï¿½t been caught by surprise, the cost would have been even less. More of this behavior would send the message that the American public really does love their country. Iï¿½d easily give a hundred dollars a year to keep Utah beautiful. It is a small price.

Comments continue below

camotim | 1:34 p.m. Dec. 26, 2008

opposition to these oil and gas leases is
support for sharia tyranny

WA 4 UT | 1:47 p.m. Dec. 26, 2008

Here here Ken! The thought of buying up the leases on land which is already public is flat out silly. 1.7 million would should be used for Tims defense and ensuring private companies have the ability to exploit these beautiful natural resources.

lht | 3:08 p.m. Dec. 26, 2008

If Tim really wants to take a stand he needs to stop using products that are derived from crude. The list is literally in the tens of thousands. Terrorists are all about their own selfishness. Lets see Tim and all his cronies REALLY man up here!

Thinkin' Man | 3:58 p.m. Dec. 26, 2008

It's opposition like this that has kept American dollars pouring overseas. Oil and gas can be developed with minimal environmental impact.

In fact, Federal royalties on oil and gas could be used to fund research and development of oil's replacement. Congress actually proposed this several years ago in conjunction with drilling in ANWR (also Federal lands), which would have created a fund of billions of dollars for alternative fuels development. But Noooooo, the "oppose oil at all costs" crowd put an end to it. They have no solutions, only opposition.

Every American who heats their home, drives a car, or uses plastics ought to be angry at this man and his sympathizers for obstructing progress. There would be no environmental down-side!

in response to Thinkin' Man | 5:12 p.m. Dec. 26, 2008

"There would be no environmental downside."

You probably think there's such a thing as clean coal too, don't ya?

It's opposition like this that has prevented the whole of this country from becoming a massive, 3,000 mile wide nuclear power plant

Dan / Pro-America! | 9:34 a.m. Dec. 27, 2008

You are all a bunch of HYPOCRITES taking this country down!
I agree with; "Lets see Tim and all his cronies REALLY man up here!"
It would never happen......HYPOCRITES!

You ask for $25.00 donations.....YOU USED OIL TO MAKE THE $25.00 YOU ARE SENDING!!!! KIND OF LIKE USING OIL TO GET THE COUNTRY ON ITS FEET AND DEVELOPING NEW SOURCES OF ENERGY....AND WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH NUCLEAR? I'd rather send a $25.00 donation to the oil companies!

Ant | 10:13 a.m. Dec. 27, 2008

If you come to America from overseas it is hard to come to any other conclusion that oil is being wasted like there is no tomorrow. It is a land of oversized cars and homes. Over consumption is worshipped.
Congratulations to Tim. I'm sure that it is better to raise the $1.7m to allow the bids to be honored than to get involved in a legal battle. I plan on being part of the solution by donating and bringing the case to the attention of friends who I know love unspoiled nature.

Chabuka | 11:11 a.m. Dec. 27, 2008

How dare this DeChristopher fella mess with the sanctity of the Sovereign Oil and Mining Companies of America, and their "corporate right" to do exactly as they please to anyone, any were for profit and gain, (even murder, in some parts of the world) but, especially in "our" National Parks and Monuments (we bought them, "we the people" own them and maintain them, the oil companies do not honor their lease obligations, pay their fees, or respect our property) National Parks and Monuments, but we should let them at it...after all they are a big, rich and powerful corporation, and "we the people" are only just the government..(aren't we supposed to be? Isn't that what it says in our Constitution that Bush/Cheney have shredded, instead of protected)...Teddy Roosevelt is spinning in his grave

Sophia Bogle | 3:41 p.m. Dec. 27, 2008

Tim DeCristopher is a hero and I will be looking for my own chance to make a difference.

MyFavoriteNiece | 3:55 p.m. Dec. 28, 2008

Bravo, Tim! Absolutely behind you in this, and I hope it is the start of similar actions. Tim is not the criminal here. Here's hoping we can get the real criminals to The Hague and tried for war crimes.

Monte Asbury | 4:32 p.m. Dec. 28, 2008

"Support for Sharia tyranny?" Hardly. Check Wikipedia on United States oil politics:

"Saudi Oil accounts for about 13% of U.S. oil imports. [...] the top oil exporters to the United States in May 2008 were, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria (in order from most exports to least)." Little more than one barrel of ten has connections to the Middle East.

Right on, Tim! Big Oil has profits enough, and this nation has oil enough to tide us over until we learn to conserve.

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