His creative act of civil disobedience was not unprecedented and thus not unexpected by the government. Regulations related to the 1987 Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act (FOOLGRA) (Cornell Law) requires holder of energy leases to develop the land for energy development, essentially preventing conservation groups from bidding on and obtaining leases. They also require bidders to have the financial means of paying for the lease. Bidder 70 "won" the auction but was charged, tried, and convicted of interfering with and making false statements at a federal auction (Huffington Post) both for not having the funds to pay for the lease and not intending to actually drill for oil and gas. He was recently sentenced to 2 years in a federal prison, an unprecedented punishment for an act of civil disobedience. DeChristopher maintained that the auctions were illegal attempts to fast-track oil and gas development, and, in fact, he was right: once the Obama administration took office and reviewed the leases, they found them to be illegitimate and dismissed them (MSNBC). However, that had no bearing on DeChristopher's prosecution. The judge also did not allow him make the argument that there are at least 25 other cases of winning bidders who found out they did not have the financial means to pay for the lease and walked away without prosecution (Time).
While DeChristopher had a trial by a jury of his peers, the way in which this act was prosecuted and the very regulations and punishments underlying it reveal a deeper moral degradation that we have institutionalized in an economy that is dependent upon fossil fuels. And that's what is important for people of faith to consider. In my opinion, the intent of the regulations from FOOLGRA that were selectively used to prosecute DeChristopher is to outlaw environmentalists from getting between an addict and his dealer. Civil disobedience is used all the time to disrupt the smooth operations of public and private activities, but violators are never accused of fraud or misrepresentation; indeed, DeChristopher claims he clearly stated his intentions prior to the start of the auction (bidder70.org). Rather, these regulations were used to express the government's increasing frustration, denial, and complicity in a harmful, unsustainable energy system. The response was not to acknowledge the inherent problems and take corrective action but rather to lash out at protestors who would dare to speak truth to power. There are clear parallels with global trade negotiations where meeting sites are more and more cordoned off like security compounds and protestors are removed so far away as to have no visibility for the negotiating representatives.
While these actions are far removed from the atrocities committed by isolated autocratic rulers in the Middle East, they represent the same type of moral degradation. In the case of the Middle East, rulers depend upon largely unjust and immoral political systems; in the US, we are dependent upon a harmful and unjust fossil fuel energy system. When the injustice and harm of these systems is brought to light, a moral (and religiously grounded) response would be to acknowledge the problems, ask for forgiveness, and work for restorative justice grounded in the development of a morally defensible alternative. Continuing to defend and support an unjust system requires governments to deny the problems and increasingly engage in immoral acts to suppress or silence the voices of the harmed and those demanding justice. Climate deniers, as a former post explained, aren't really anti-science; they're mainly in denial about the immorality of a fossil fuel-based energy system. To accept the problems is to affirm the harm they have caused and accept the moral responsibility to take action. The governmental dissonance of prosecuting DeChristopher for bidding on leases that were later declared illegitimate demonstrates the struggle we face in trying to "balance" our desire to protect the environment while continuing to depend upon an unjust energy system. A morally defensible response would be to fundamentally change the laws and regulations so that we move as quickly as possible to a renewable energy system that ensures justice and protection of the environment and human health.
The point, to make a long story short, is that clinging to a harmful and unjust energy system is inherently degrading of our own moral character. The corrupting nature of unjust and harmful systems is clear in the stories of the Hebrew prophets (Old Testament books) when rulers who most benefited lashed out at the prophets who spoke out against the harm and injustice. The call to personal repentance that is so prevalent in modern evangelical religious movements (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or otherwise) may seem to ignore social or institutional immorality, but the two are intertwined. The fruits of personal salvation should be morally defensible actions and decisions, but such a redeemed life cannot be fully lived while clinging to a morally indefensible support system. That is why prophets have targeted religious and political rulers for their most stinging criticisms: they most benefit from unjust systems, they have the power to change or perpetuate them, and thus their moral character is most connected to their decisions and actions in regard to their defense or transformations. The Bidder 70 case illustrates the morally corrupting and degrading character of our fossil fuel-based energy system and the need for Interfaith Power and Light and its supporters to emphasize this point in their role as prophetic voice for a just and sustainable energy future.
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