Fillm Screening: Bidder 70

“Bidder 70,” a documentary film about an environmental activist who derailed a controversial federal auction of energy leases on public lands in Utah in 2008, will be screened at a Community Forum in Newbury Park on Friday, May 17.

 The film tells the story of Tim DeChristopher, who submitted and won bids on parcels offered for oil and gas exploration with no ability or intention to pay. He was hailed as a hero by environmentalists who opposed the Bureau of Land Management’s auction of leases near Arches and Canyonlands national parks in the final days of the Bush administration.

  A discussion led by Vincent Pawlowski, a board member of the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, will follow the 7:30 p.m. screening at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

DeChristopher was released from prison and halfway house confinement April 21 after serving two years for making a false statement and violating a federal law on oil and gas leasing. He has said his civil disobedience was motivated by concerns about global warming and the despoiling of pristine lands owned by the public.

 The U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case said in a statement after the verdict that the government recognized deeply held opinions about public lands but that there were ways to advocate without disrupting open public processes and causing financial harm.

 DeChristopher was a University of Utah economics student when he went to the auction and registered as bidder No. 70. He has said he hoped to disrupt the auction so that it could be reviewed by the incoming Obama administration, or at least to drive up the price of the leases, some of which were offered at $2 an acre. He wound up with winning bids on 22,000 acres of land worth $1.7 million before the auction was halted.

 The entire lease sale was later overturned by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who said required procedures were not followed.

 The judge at DeChristopher’s trial did not allow him to mount a defense that his civil disobedience was aimed at protecting the environment, and the jury was not told that the auction was found to be unlawful.  

 While he was awaiting trial, DeChristopher co-founded Peaceful Uprising, a grassroots group dedicated to defending a livable future through nonviolent action.

 Pawlowski, who attended the trial and sentencing, said it moved him from being an observer to a participant in civil disobedience on behalf of the environment. He is an engineer whose interest in sustainability began during the 1970s oil crisis. He returned to school after 27 years to obtain a degree in sustainable community development.

The CVUUF Community Forum is co-sponsored by Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions, Eco-Buyers Ventura, Kids vs. Global Warming and VC Cool. It is open to the public with a $10 donation requested. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. The Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is located at 3327 Old Conejo Road in Newbury Park. For information, visit forum.cvuuf.org or call (805) 374-9818.