Burning Man lawsuit: ‘Abusive’ feds charged $18 million, demanded 24-hour ice cream

Burning Man festival organizers are fed up with waiting through the appeals process. So they are suing the U.S. government for its “abusive practices” after charging Burning Man $18 million in fees over three years, the lawsuit says.

Black Rock City, which produces the annual event, filed a lawsuit on Dec. 13 against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management’s Winnemucca office.

It claims that BLM imposed “inflated and unnecessary costs” on Black Rock City by requiring them to pay nearly $3 million this year to hold the festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.

Black Rock City claims that it was charged nearly $3 million in permit costs in 2019 and $18 million from 2015 to 2018. The suit also says that BLM has continued to raise fees, doubling them from $1.37 million in 2012 to over $2.93 million in 2013. The costs were raised by another $700,000 in 2014.

Planning for the 2015 event also was bogged down by “unprecedented demands” by BLM, including a “luxury compound to accommodate ‘VIP’ personnel and 24-hour access to ice cream,” according to the suit.

The lawsuit says that Black Rock City filed six appeals over the past four years to challenge “excessive” and “unjustified” costs. It also claims that there was “unreasonable delay” in resolving those appeals, leaving Black Rock City the choice to either pay the fees or cancel Burning Man altogether.

“This case is our attempt to break this cycle,” Burning Man spokesperson Megan Miller told USA Today.

This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 1:06 PM.