SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A federal judge says he won't allow global warming to be put on trial in the case of a college student charged with disrupting an auction of oil and gas drilling leases near Utah national parks.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson on Monday denied a motion by Tim DeChristopher's lawyers. They wanted to mount a defense claiming he acted in the interest of the greater good by bidding up parcels at the auction last December.
The University of Utah student has said he did it to call attention to global warming.
He was indicted in April on felony charges of interfering with a government auction and making false representations.
In his ruling, Benson says DeChristopher didn't show his actions would have prevented imminent harm and he had other ways to challenge the leases.
