Recently the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued Black Rock City, LLC (BRC) a five-year Special Recreation Permit. One of the stipulations requires BRC to pay for local law enforcement expenses in addition to the $4 per person per day in user fees that BRC already pays to the BLM. In the past the BLM has always paid for local law enforcement expenses from the user fee revenue. Legal counsel have advised BRC that this stipulation is “double dipping” that goes against the BLM’s own fee regulations. BRC has filed an appeal of that stipulation, which will be heard by the Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals. Appeals can sometimes take over a year to be decided. In the meantime BRC is paying local law enforcement expenses for 2006. If BRC ultimately prevails then the BLM will have to reimburse the expenses to BRC.
Thank you to everyone who sent public comments to the BLM earlier this year about the proposed new stipulations for 2006. BRC is satisfied with the outcome of the rest of the stipulation negotiations. The permit, stipulations and related documents are available for downloading here. [para_end]
