Meanwhile, in Utah the Interior Department has frozen a majority of oil and gas drilling permits sold off in the Bush administration’s last weeks. In a new review, government regulators say the sales were made in a “headlong rush” on land “not appropriate for development.” The move freezes or blocks the sale of the three-quarters of the initial seventy-seven land parcels. Many are located near national parks and other protected wilderness. The move could bolster the defense of a college student who initially disrupted the land auction by posing as a bidder. The student, Tim DeChristopher, is currently facing ten years in prison on charges of interfering with a public auction.