Between The Lines - Tim DeChristopher: Direct Action to Derail the Sale of Public Land to Private Oil and Gas Developers (Week Ending 3/18/11)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

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"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

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Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

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SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

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2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

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Environmental Activist who Derailed Public Land Sale to Oil and Gas Developers Faces 10 Years in Prison

Posted March 9, 2011

Real Audio MP3

Interview with Tim DeChristopher, environmental activist, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

On March 3, Tim DeChristopher was convicted by a federal jury in Salt Lake City, Utah on two felony counts of interfering with a government auction and making false statements when he placed bids at the auction in December 2008. DeChristopher had the winning bid on several parcels of land comprising thousands of acres that were being opened for oil and gas drilling during the last days of the outgoing Bush administration. In his bid, he won the rights to 22,500 acres out of 116,000 acres up for auction.

DeChristopher said he took the more radical step of becoming a bidder rather than just protesting outside the auction because he wanted to make a stronger statement against the environmental destruction that would exacerbate climate change and be a byproduct of the extraction of oil and possibly natural gas from the desert, near priceless icons like Arches National Park. DeChristopher, 29, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $750,000 at his June 23 sentencing. He hasn't decided yet whether to appeal.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with DeChristopher about his nonviolent direct action and the organization he co-founded, Peaceful Uprising, to encourage others to take similar risks to combat the climate crisis and build a just, healthy world.

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: I was going in there with some kind of intention of waving a red flag about what was going on and try to delay the auction long enough that the new administration could reconsider and hopefully reverse the auction, which is eventually what happened. So I was just going in with that vague intention, not knowing what that might look like, if I was going to yell something, or make a speech, or something like that, and just when I walked in, they asked me if I wanted to be a bidder.

BETWEEN THE LINES: And you didn't have to meet any criteria or put down any money, or anything like that?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: No, all it took was a driver's license to sign up. It was just a simple form.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What happened next?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: They stopped the auction after I won about 12 parcels in a row. They stopped it and an agent came and asked me to step outside. And I told him exactly what I was doing and why. They took me into custody -- they didn't arrest me at the time, but they took me into custody and questioned me for a few hours before releasing me that afternoon.

BETWEEN THE LINES: When were you charged, then?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: I wasn't charged 'til almost four months later, I think in part because it took them a long time to figure out if I actually broke any laws. But it was actually after the auction was reversed that I was indicted.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Under the Obama administration, then?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: Right.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Was the auction reversed because it was tainted by your participation or because the Obama administration had decided they didn't want to be auctioning off the drilling rights?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: The latter. I mean, once they had taken a second look at the auction, the government admitted that they weren't following their own laws in the first place, and the auction itself was illegitimate to begin with.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So when that happened, did you feel like you were off the hook?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: I thought it was possible, but I also realized that in some ways it made it more likely for me to be indicted because when they took a second look, it did expose the illegitimacies of the auction, and they decided those parcels weren't appropriate for leasing, it actually kept those parcels out of the hands of the oil industry.

BETWEEN THE LINES: You had considered using the necessity defense, that is, that you took action to prevent a greater harm, the despoiling of these lands, but you weren't able to, right?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: In the trial, we weren't allowed to say anything that didn't happen on Dec. 19. We weren't allowed to let the jury know that the auction was overturned afterwards because the government admitted it was illegitimate. We weren't allowed to let them know that I did in fact raise the money in the weeks after the auction to make the initial payment, and I offered that to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management), and they refused to take it. The jury never heard any of that info so the verdict was kind of a foregone conclusion by the time the trial happened.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Tell me again what exactly were the charges?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: It was one count of violating the federal on-shore oil and gas leasing reform act and one count of making false statements.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What were the false statements? You won the bids and you were going to pay for them.

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: Well, they said the false statement was that I signed the bidder registration form, which said that I was a bona fide bidder, and they said that at the time I signed it, I didn't have the intention to actually purchase and develop any of these oil leases. It was interesting in the trial during cross-examination when I was on the stand, the prosecutor asked if I was bidding in good faith. And I said, Could you define, "in good faith." And he said, "Well, it means you are a bona fide bidder." And I said, "Can you define bona fide in this application?" and he said, "I withdraw the question" and he changed the subject and talked about something else. They were never quite able to define what that meant, but they were pretty sure it wasn't me.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Is it possible that they'd be developing natural gas on these properties, or was it just oil?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: It was natural gas as well.

BETWEEN THE LINES: You co-founded a group called Peaceful Uprising, which is focused specifically around climate change. Can you explain its goals?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: It was something that was set up after the auction with a lot of folks that came together and had heard about what had happened and wanted to encourage similar actions.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Has that happened?

TIM DECHRISTOPHER: There certainly have been a lot of folks who have expressed their sentiments to me about how they've been affected by this story, and a lot of folks that have come together and built a really strong community of folks who all share that sentiment that we need to be taking stronger action to defend a livable future. And I think the trial and the events surrounding it really galvanized that community a lot. I think it was an important point for the folks in Peaceful Uprising to make that very public statement outside the courthouse, that whatever happens to me, they're going to respond with joy and resolve and they're going to keep fighting for a livable future and they're not going to back down in the face of this attempted intimidation.

For more information, visit Tim DeChristopher's group's website at www.peacefuluprising.org