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SALT LAKE CITY — Keep It in the Ground Movement organizers say noted author and activist Terry Tempest Williams won bids on more than 1,500 acres of federal land in Grand County up for potential oil and gas development.
Her winning bid on 1,571 acres of land was part of a Bureau of Land Management auction Tuesday in which 46 parcels of land was offered for lease/sale. The federal agency said 21 of those parcels were sold, but it could not confirm the identity of noncompetitive bidders until Wednesday, when the results are unsealed.
The Keep It in the Ground Movement protested at the Salt Lake City auction where some activists had to be escorted out after breaking into song. The auction then continued as planned, with $276,000 received in bonus bids.
Multiple BLM auctions across the West have been the target of protesters who say federal public lands should be off-limits to fossil fuel extraction.
Williams was asked by a BLM official if she was legitimately bidding for energy development and she responded, "Yes. You can't define what energy is for us. Our energy development is fueling a movement. Keep it in the ground," according to a press release issued by the group Tuesday.
Activist Timothy DeChristopher, who gained national notoriety for pretending to a bidder and driving up prices at a BLM auction in Salt Lake City back in 2008, praised the protest.
"The protests of today's auction are another sign that the days of unresisted fossil fuel development are over," said DeChristopher, who spent 21 months in federal prison.
The Western Energy Alliance, representing independent oil and gas producers in Utah and other Western states, fired back at the Keep It in the Ground Movement, accusing members of being paid protesters who are publicity hounds.
The industry association said there are formal protest procedures with the BLM to appeal a decision that few of the groups actually take part in — and their protests ignore land use management plans that include community input and environmental protections in energy development.
Williams, a native of Utah, is a conservationist and activist whose books include "The Open Space of Democracy," and "Finding Beauty in a Broken World."
