this is one way to deal with the government auctioning off public land to be destroyed by oil and gas companies:

(ap story, via huffington post) a 27 year old university of utah student named tim dechristopher went to a bureau of land management auction in december and starting bidding on parcels of federal land that were being sold to oil and gas companies. he won 13 of them, and managed to make others much more expensive than they would have been otherwise.

"I thought I could be effective by making bids, driving up prices for others and winning some bids myself," the Salt Lake City man said.
snip
DeChristopher snapped up 22,500 acres of land around Arches and Canyonlands parks but said he could afford to pay for only a few of those acres. He owes $1.7 million on all of his leases.

he's expecting federal charges, he says, and he's "willing to deal with that."

somewhere, edward abbey is smiling.