Activist who faked Utah energy lease bids sentenced to 2 years

A Utah man lionized by environmentalists for crashing a 2008 government auction of energy leases near two national parks was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $10,000 on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson in Salt Lake City ordered Tim DeChristopher taken into custody immediately. "I'm not saying there isn't a place for civil disobedience," Benson said. "But it can't be the order of the day." In a roughly 35-minute address to the court, DeChristopher, 29, said his actions were necessary to highlight the threat that climate change poses to the planet. "My intent both at the time of the auction and now was to expose, embarrass and hold accountable the oil and gas industry, to point that it cut into their $100-billion profits," he said. Defense attorney Pat Shea vowed to appeal. "There's been a serious abuse of justice," Shea said. DeChristopher could have received up to 10 years in prison and a $1.5-million fine...more

Shea was briefly BLM Director under Bill Clinton.