Earth Equity News

Federal Judge in Utah Hears Preliminary Arguments in DeChristopher/BLM Oil and Gas Lease Case. By Mike Stark, AP, September 25, 2009. "A federal judge said Friday he's reluctant to put global warming on trial in the case of a Utah college student charged with disrupting a federal oil and gas lease auction for parcels near several national parks. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson gave attorneys for Tim DeChristopher a month to file briefs saying why they should be allowed claim he was acting in the interest of the greater good. DeChristopher says he posed as a bidder last December -- and indeed won $1.7 million in leases -- in an act of civil disobedience to protect wild lands near Utah's national parks from drilling and call attention to climate change... After a 45-minute hearing, Benson didn't rule out the possibility of DeChristopher's so-called 'lesser-of-two-evils' defense but said he's reluctant to 'open this courtroom to a lengthy hearing on global warming'... DeChristopher's attorney, Ronald Yengich... said the Bush administration in its waning days tried to illegally auction off parcels in some of Utah's most pristine environments. DeChristopher's disruption of the auction was a nonviolent effort 'to stop what he believed was greater harm'... He said he'd like to have evidentiary hearings including scientists, legal experts and other witnesses who can talk about climate change, oil and gas drilling, and other larger issues related to the case. Asked after the hearing whether he wants to put global warming on trial, Yengich said: I'd like to put the Bush administration on trial.'"