A federal judge has sentenced Tim DeChristopher, 29, to two years in prison for disrupting a Bureau of Land Management lease auction in Utah in December 2008. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson also fined DeChristopher $10,000 and gave him three years of probation. In March a jury found the Universithy of Utah economics student guilty of one count of violating the federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act and two counts of providing false statements. DeChristopher falsely bid on 13 lease parcels covering 22,000 acres near Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands national parks on Dec. 19, 2008 (see NGI, Jan. 5, 2009). He reportedly disrupted the auction over climate change concerns.

©Copyright 2011Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.