Tim Dechristopher

The New York Times recently posted the article by The Associated Press, Utah Activist Disrupts Sale of Leases for Drilling. At the age of 27, Tim Dechristopher, a graduate of economics in the University of Utah, has disturbed an auction by falsely bidding. The auction was held in Salt Lake City, December 19, 2008, when it was disrupted by Dechristopher when he bid on numerous auctions, and won 13 of the 116 total parcels. He rose the prices for many of the leases and won, without any inclination to pay for them. Tim Dechristopher, an environmental activist admits to the act, wanted to stop the sale of drilling leases in favor of preserving national parks and the local environment. Dejected bidders were either outbid, or had to overpay for their
leases, which called for a reaction from the authorities. Dechristopher's case was transferred to federal court, and he has been charged for fraud. Acts of Civil Disobedience were recognized in both Thoreau’s essay, “Civil Disobedience”, and Tim Dechristopher’s act of fraud.
Thoreau, a Harvard philosopher, wrote in 1849 an essay explaining himself, who spent a night in jail to protest taxes that funded the Mexican-American War. Likewise, Tim Dechristopher, an environmental activist in 2008, disrupted the bid for oil drilling leases, to hinder and protest the destruction of the environment. Thoreau explains his antithesis, “If [U.S. Citizens] pay the tax from a mistaken interest in the individual taxes, to save his property, or prevent his going to jail, it is because they have not considered wisely how far they let their private feelings interfere with the public good” (Thoreau 3, 10). Hence, he states that doing unjust and illegal activities is justifiable, if it boosts public welfare. Similarly, Dechristopher’s illegal act of fraud is justified in the New York Times article, “Activist said the sale would threaten Utah’s wild lands and spoil the view from some of the state’s spectacular national parks with drilling rigs” (Associated Press 11). As many environmental activists agree, the public welfare of the people relies on the health of the environment. Seeing Dechristopher verbally support his own act of civil disobedience, and in like manner, Thoreau justifying his act and accepting it, it is deducted that they are both embodiments of civil disobedience. If civil disobedience was construed, Thoreau and
Dechristopher, would be the quintessence of it.
Tim Dechristopher, a civilly disobedient environmental activist, had every best justification for his actions.
Ultimately, people would have contrasted their thoughts on the important public welfare of the people of Utah, to the bureaucratic economic benefits to the oil and gas industry. It is true that Dechristopher should be seen as a criminal, disrupting and hurting the industry and the auction, but at what justifiable cost? The New York Times article does not delve deeply into the justification of his crime, which is understandable. In the synopsis of the article the scene of the auction is described, “The process was thrown into chaos and the bidding halted for a time before the auction was closed” (Associated Press 2). What a crime. A peaceful protest this man has bravely done to show awareness to the people, and the
environment.