Accused monkey-wrencher pleads not guilty (and other cases)

via Jon Sumby

Tim DeChristopher pleaded “not guilty” Tuesday to disrupting a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction in December and pledged to use his prosecution to attack policies he says are allowing climate change to career out of control.

About 200 supporters rallied for the 27-year-old University of Utah student at the downtown Salt Lake City library and marched with him to the federal courthouse, where he was arraigned and his weeklong trial was scheduled to begin July 6.

DeChristopher faces up to 10 years in prison but he told his supporters that those consequences did not compare with the starvation and homelessness millions will suffer around the world if climate change is not stopped.

“Until [U.S. Attorney for Utah] Brett Tolman can start dishing out punishment penalties like that, I’m not going to back down, and I need to know you are not going to back down, either,” he told a cheering crowd.
Accused monkey-wrencher pleads not guilty

by Judy Fahys And Brandon Loomis, The Salt Lake Tribune, 29th April, 2009

TIM DeChristopher pleaded “not guilty” Tuesday to disrupting a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction in December and pledged to use his prosecution to attack policies he says are allowing climate change to career out of control.

About 200 supporters rallied for the 27-year-old University of Utah student at the downtown Salt Lake City library and marched with him to the federal courthouse, where he was arraigned and his weeklong trial was scheduled to begin July 6.

DeChristopher faces up to 10 years in prison but he told his supporters that those consequences did not compare with the starvation and homelessness millions will suffer around the world if climate change is not stopped.

“Until [U.S. Attorney for Utah] Brett Tolman can start dishing out punishment penalties like that, I’m not going to back down, and I need to know you are not going to back down, either,” he told a cheering crowd.

A grand jury indicted DeChristopher on two felony counts in connection with his bogus bid on oil and gas leases. He submitted winning bids on 13 parcels, though he never intended to pay the $1.8 million owed.

The two counts — interfering with an auction with intent to “defeat” the federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act, and making false and fraudulent representations when registering for an auction — also carry a $750,000 fine.

Full story at: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12245502

Climate change protesters arrested after gluing themselves to statue in Houses of Parliament.
By Murray Wardrop, 27 Apr 2009, The Telegraph

A group of protesters have been arrested after they glued themselves to a statue inside the Houses of Parliament.

The four climate change demonstrators attached themselves to the effigy of Viscount Falkland by smearing super glue onto their hands and forming a human chain around it. The three women and one man wore white clothing and red sashes in tribute to a suffragette who chained herself to the same statue 100 years ago, and were chanting slogans.

Police had to seal off the area in St Stephen’s Hall, which is accessible to the public, for more than two hours while an ambulance crew worked to extricate them. Commons staff said that the group, who were demonstrating against plans to build coal-fired power stations, damaged the historic statue during the incident on Monday.

An attendant said: “It took about two hours to get them unstuck. Fortunately this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often – the last time was 100 years ago to the day, when a suffragette chained herself to the same statue, and I suppose they thought this was symbolic.

Full story at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5232465/Climate-change-protesters-arrested-after-gluing-themselves-to-statue-in-Houses-of-Parliament.html

Climate change campaigners target Tesco with paint attack

By Jerome Taylor, Monday, 27 April 2009, The Independent

Environmental activists made a series of early morning guerrilla raids on more than 20 Tesco stores today to protest against an in-store promotion that offered airmiles to people who bought energy saving lightbulbs.

Campaigners from the “Climate Suffrajets”, a women-led direct action group, used stencils and green paint to daub the words “Every Little Hurts” on 27 stores across central London. Above the slogan was a picture of two energy saving light bulbs and the Tesco brand name.

The activists were protesting against a newspaper advertisement which offered customers extra clubcard points for switching to energy efficient light bulbs. The points could then be exchanged for air miles and was advertised as a “Flights for Lights” promotion.

The Climate Suffrajets phoned The Independent earlier today to claim responsibility for the attack and for a recent assault on the Department of Transport where a brick was thrown through a window.

A spokeswoman said: “Tesco was targeted today because offering airmiles in exchange for efficient lightbulbs is completely counter-productive.”

The caller said the group was primarily made up of young women who had splintered from “Climate Rush”, another predominantly female activist group which tried to break into the Houses of Parliament last year to mark the 100th anniversary of a similar assault by suffragettes on Westminster.

Full story: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-protesters-target-tesco-with-paint-campaign-1675014.html