“Burning Man” event might be snuffed out by permitting rules

“Burning Man” event might be snuffed out by permitting rules

It appears that the US Bureau of Land Management may soon impose new rules that could snuff out the iconic “Burning Man” event.

Taking a page from President Donald Trump’s plans for the southern border, administration officials want to erect a wall around the temporary city.

The problems started when the event’s organizer, Burning Man Project, applied for a permit from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to hold the event in northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for another 10 years.

Then the BLM responded.

The agency, which is part of the Interior Department and manages public lands, issued a draft of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) required for the permit on March 15.

BLM wants 10 miles of concrete barriers installed on the event’s perimeter for security, a requirement that organizers install dumpsters and hire companies to haul out the trash and authorities in place to conduct vehicle searches at the gate.

This video of an aerial view of the Burning Man area offers a look at the scope of the project.

The BLM’s proposed changes to the event also include drug screenings and dumpsters in Black Rock City.

Understandably, the organizers are shocked that officials want to actually manage the land for which it the bureau is responsible.

Burning Man event organizers took issue with proposed requirements that came in a more-than-150-page report and fired back in a post on their website, writing, “The proposed level of government surveillance of and involvement in our everyday operations is unprecedented and unwarranted, and is unsupported by the … analysis.”

Burning Man said the statement requires “astronomical cost increases” and “beyond-excessive government oversight,” and proposes to “increase federal government agency operations exponentially in order to take over or ‘monitor’ our operations.”

The organizers said security operations, how many cars are allowed into the event, how people are tracked while there and how lighting is used would all be affected by the proposed rules. That could hurt tickets sales, they said.

Given how may of the attendees are green justice activists, it is fascinating to see arguments related to pollution control be used for the new rules.

The government also has concerns about lights being used at night, including large work lights, high-intensity lasers and search lights, which BLM said can disrupt birds and other wildlife, and contribute to light pollution. As a result, the potential to ban or curtail some of the lighting is on the table.

“Back on Earth, Burning Man has a robust nightlife which, combined with the artists’ technical creativity and the darkness of the playa, heavily features light-based artwork,” the organization said in its fact-checking statement. “The nighttime Black Rock City skyline has become a hallmark of the Burning Man experience, including innumerable LEDs, lasers, and searchlights throughout the city.”

It denies that the night lights affect the local fowl population. “In fact, birds are rarely encountered on the playa in hot summer months,” they said.

I also find it highly amusing than the attendees, many of whom normally love Democrats and the Deep State, are now bitterly clinging to the US Constitution.

Burning Man Threatening to Sue Feds for Turning Festival into Unconstitutional Police State https://t.co/zJ6F3qSa2z #Liberty #Constitution #drug_war #FBI #John_Vibes

— Gaia Strategic (@Skowtura_Ini) August 25, 2018

Many “Burners” don’t appreciate the new land management priorities, in which wealth-producing activities geared to help American taxpayers are rated more important that creating a waste-strewn, drug-infested party zone.

Funny how Trump’s BLM thinks mines, petroleum extraction and logging are just fine on public lands but wants to weaponize regulations to force an annual gathering of progressive people out of existence. https://t.co/ZjUYKklv1V via @HuffPost

— American Liberal (@AmerLiberal) April 30, 2019

On the other hand, many Americans understand the issues that are clearly at hand.

I’m sorry, but all I hear is a bunch of rich people, who want to cosplay post apocalyptic homelessness for a week, inconvenienced that BLM wants to make sure that their hoards are behaving in an environmentally responsible manner. Priorities kids. . . https://t.co/lGB0QqoWhe

— Lisa Luxe (@lisa_luxe) April 30, 2019

In conclusion, I suggest that “Burning Man” supporters reflect upon display that was at one of their previous events.

Not everyone or everything was meant to last forever.

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