
Environmentalist Creates Uproar at Oil-Lease Auction by Running Up Prices - kalvin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011102265.html
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bjclark
I'm from the area that this concerns, and if anyone wants to know why the tree
huggers are so upset check out google maps of the area:

[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Rifle,+CO&sll=39.333146,-108.213746&sspn=0.053442,0.067978&ie=UTF8&ll=39.507749,-107.910719&spn=0.051719,0.067978&t=h&z=14&iwloc=addr)

If you look all up and down I-70 and all throughout the region, you'll see
tons and tons of dirt roads and big dirt rectangles. Each one of these is a
natural gas well. This is a beautiful part of Colorado and Utah, and it's
being completely devastated by the development. We call it a "National
Sacrifice Area" in my family.

~~~
patrickg-zill
So your hatred of the resulting ugliness trumps others' private property
rights, including mineral rights?

~~~
mindslight
I don't think property rights enter the picture when it's a government steward
making long term leases available, possibly against the public interest.

And that they're claiming he significantly raised prices for parcels that he
didn't end up winning shows that the auction was a sham (basically the
companies expected to not have much bidding competition).

~~~
DaniFong
I've heard that logging companies play the same game of plunder in the pacific
northwest, though oftentimes they're shorter term leases, and leave soon
after. The stewards appear to be convinced one by one through a calculated
program of propaganda. It seems that people will do anything to bring jobs
into their town, but nobody wants to think about when they'll leave.

~~~
pg
I wish I felt sure they were convinced by anything as innocent as propaganda.

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mdasen
This guy just wasn't smart. If he were, he'd have created a company with an
innocuous name like "NextWave" or something. Get some funding (apparently
$45k) from environmentalists who don't want to see drilling. Then have
NextWave bid on licenses, I mean land parcels that they couldn't pay for.
Next, declare bankruptcy so that they didn't have to continue payments to the
government. Hold onto the licenses, I mean land parcels until the government
decides to settle rather than losing again in a bankruptcy case where someone
didn't pay them. They wouldn't get to keep all the land, but they'd get to
keep enough that it would be worth their while.

Plus, it's the business that's doing this action. Generally speaking, that
means the business gets in trouble and not those running it. I'm no lawyer,
but it seems like unless you pull an Enron, you don't seem to be individually
held accountable.

This guy just wasn't smart: [http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-
Wireless/NextWave-FCC-Se...](http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-
Wireless/NextWave-FCC-Settle-Wireless-Spectrum-Battle/)

~~~
cperciva
Using a shell company wouldn't have helped him. What he committed was an act
of fraud -- bidding on licenses which he knew he couldn't pay for -- and fraud
can pierce the corporate veil. There is extensive legal precedent that a
corporation created for the purpose of carrying out a fraud does not provide
any protection to the individual(s) behind it.

(This is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer. Talk to a lawyer if you plan on
committing acts of fraud.)

~~~
mdasen
My comment was more of a late night joke based on how NextWave kept lots of
spectrum from serving the public good (and earned a lot of money) doing a
similar thing. Oh, and I love Tarsnap!

~~~
cperciva
_... NextWave ..._

My understanding is that NextWave was bidding with the expectation that they
would be able to pay for the licenses. (In fact, didn't they make the first
few years of payments before they went bankrupt?)

 _Oh, and I love Tarsnap!_

Thanks!

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electromagnetic
Hopefully this inspires some environmentalists with real money to do the same.
Gas right now in Ontario is hovering around $0.75 a litre, but last summer it
was at $1.49 (I believe was the highest I personally saw it at). I think the
more restrictions are placed on oil and the higher the price stays then the
less people are going to use. I mean the carpooling lanes actually have cars
in now, even with the price of gas being low.

Ironically, the more people who carpool the less money all the 'pay $5 to
park' lots will get, which will actually mean some _new_ buildings can be
built and probably save the economy sooner.

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biohacker42
Ignoring if what he did was right or wrong, you have to a admit it is a pretty
good social hack.

But could it be an even better hack?

What if he started a business, leased all that land, after a while filed for
bankruptcy because you know the business "earnestly" was going to raise
funding for exploration but then that darn financial crisis...

Then the bankruptcy preceding drag on for a while and when the leases come up
for auction again... another small company...

Rinse and repeat.

~~~
sethg
He didn't have time to pull off such an elborate hack, because the Bush
Administration organized this auction in a big hurry, hoping to get as much
land as possible leased out before Bush left office. If the whole auction is
declared void and repeated, then when it happens again, the Obama
Administration will run the show.

