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What
happened to America and the LAND OF THE FREE
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| Burnin'BullShit
Letters from Bureau of Land Management
RE: BB'05
Monday,
April 25, 2005 12:57 PM
Hi
Lisa,
I got your phone message from last week. Here is the update on the
progress and status of the Burnin' Bush Special Recreation Permit (SRP).
I met with the NEPA interdisciplinary team on April 4th, and they decided
that this SRP was going to need an Environmental Analysis (EA). Actually,
they were quite amused at my proposal for a Categorical Exclusion [an
attempt to waive permit fees because BB is a non-profit based, educational
facility/group]. This plus the fact that the Law Enforcement at the
State Office level (more about that below) wants to have at least two
Agents out there for the weekend has prompted my supervisor and manager
to request that I process this SRP under a Cost-Recovery Schedule vs.
the $4/person/day fee. Cost-Recovery means that the Winnemucca FO charges
you for the actual cost of staff time used to process this permit.
My preliminary estimate for preparing/reviewing the EA and processing
this SRP is $6696.00. Normally, this type of fee schedule is used when
there is a significant discrepancy between what the Bureau expects to
recover at $4/person/day and what it will actually cost. In this case
it's pretty close to the same. I think I figured something like 340
people for 5 days would roughly equal the fee mentioned above. In addition,
$6700 is intentionally a high estimate, more than likely it would come
in lower. For instance, staff time is charged at $43.00/hour, and I
know for sure that my time will cost you less than half that, and I
will be putting in the most hours on this project. Two more positives
- this whole process needs to be done only once. In addition, this will
eliminate any need for doing head counts this year.
Now
about the State Law Enforcement involvement. I have no influence whats
so ever with this matter. I don't know if they will announce them selves
or be under-cover, but they will be out there. Their main concerns will
be illegal drug use and minors with alcohol.
Joey Carmosino
Outdoor Recreation Planner
Winnemucca Field Office
5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd
Winnemucca, NV 89445
(775) 623-1771
04/26/2005
07:31 PM
"Mr.Freeze" To <Vito_Carmosino@nv.blm.gov>
Subject: Randy Reeders #
Vito,
This Mr. Freeze, I was wondering if you could get me a contact # for
Randy Reeder? I saw the e-mail and saw that Randy wanted to speak with
me.
I also had some questions for you.
1. Is the piece of land we are using BLM or privately owned??
2. Did Burning Man go through this same process?
3. Why is this process becoming such a run around?
4. Do people realize this is a registered non-profit??
5. Please explain to me what is going on, I worked for BM for 10 years
and it seems that they are getting preferential treatment, and we are
getting a run around and we barely have the capacity they have, with
way less population and art work??I’m just wondering, I am not
trying to stir up anything I’m just trying to understand what
is going on. I really do not understand why we are being compared to
them and why we need to meet a higher standard. With less people in
an area that I understand is not in the National Conservation Area??
Vito please explain.
Mr.
Freeze
AKA Jeff Oushani
******
Good
Morning Jeff,
Randy Reader's # (775) 623-1720
Question
# 1: Is the piece of land we are using BLM or privately owned??
The permit site is on lands administered by the BLM. In addition the
all access routes to this site takes place on BLM service roads.
Question # 2: Did Burning Man go through this same process?
Definitely! On receipt of the application, all Special Recreation Permits
(SRP) are subject to a preliminary review and initial scoping to determine
whether the activity requires an Environmental Assessment (EA). The
latest EA (EA # NV-020-03-16) involving the Burning Man event was compiled
in 2003. In addition, the Burning Man SRP file contains numerous such
documents due to the evolution of that event. By far, the Burning Man
documentation is the most voluminous file in our cabinet!
Question #3: Why is this process becoming such a run around?
I understand this seems over whelming at first, but this is the standard
procedure for the issue of SRP's. This procedure is authorized under
several laws, regulations, and policies. The latest and most pertinent
are the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (2004) and 43 CFR 2930.
As an Outdoor Recreation Planner, my job is to ensure that the we abide
by these decisions, but just as importantly, I am here to provide Draka
Arts with the tools, information, and coaching to get through this process.
Question # 4: Do people realize this is a registered non-profit??
There are several 'triggers' that are evaluated to determine if an event
needs a permit. In this case, the main 'trigger' was that fact that
this event was publicly advertised and taking place on public lands.
Although not specifically defined in national codes (these decisions
are left up to the local offices), the number of potential participants,
the location of the event and its nature also played into the decision
to proceed with an EA. At that point, the nature of the organization
is not a factor in determining if a SRP and EA are needed.
Question # 5: Please explain to me what is going on, I worked for BM
for 10 years and it seems that they are getting preferential treatment,
and we are getting a run around and we barely have the capacity they
have, with way less population and art work??
This effort is being under taken to defer any accusations of preferential
treatment. The public (including the Burning Man
organization) can and probably will question the BLM as far as our handling
of this permit as this will have to go out for public comment.
Now, these are the 'short' answers to your questions. It is very important
that we act quickly on this, and I am sure you have more questions about
this process. Can you, Lisa, Flynn, and myself arrange a conference
call to discuss these issues?
Joey Carmosino
Outdoor Recreation Planner
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