[meteorite-list] New BLM Rules

From: Peter Scherff <peterscherff_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:18:50 -0400
Message-ID: <01e601cd980c$67725cb0$36571610$_at_rcn.com>

Hi,

        My understanding of meteorite ownership law in the USA is that the
meteorite belongs to the land owner. In the Old Woman case the government
exercised its right to meteorites found on government land. Meteorite
hunters have been lucky that the government has not claimed all finds. I
think that the government would have been within the law to do so. So this
new rule gives meteorite hunters an clear right to keep the meteorites they
find (up to 10 pounds). This rule gives meteorite hunters more not less
rights. It all depends on your point of view.

Thanks,

Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Jeff
Grossman
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 7:06 PM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] New BLM Rules

All,

For those of you who don't know, I contribute to this list as a private
citizen, but I work at NASA headquarters, with duties that extend to
oversight of curation and research programs. I will be reading all posts on
the list pertaining to this issue.

Jeff

On 9/20/2012 6:37 PM, Jim Wooddell wrote:
> I have been in communications with the BLM on and off all day. Art,
> thank for the HTML reminder as I have been trying to post all day and
> thought I had this set correctly!
>
> Here is the first response:
>
> Dear Mr. Wooddell: The application fee is dependent on the time it
> takes for BLM to process the project proposal in the application. This
> would be determined by the field office manager after the application
> is submitted and reviewed. These fees would be estimated for you prior
> to the processing of the application, and would include monitoring
> fees as well. The permit application/ permit is 2920-1 attached; fees
> would be on page 2 when a permit is issued. Some examples of what the
> fees would be can be found on the following web site and one example
> is attached. http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/lands.html You
> mentioned a "nation-wide" permit in your email. BLM issues permits on
> a local level, and at maximum could be on a state-wide level, for
> lands that we administer in the Western States. Thank you,Lucia Kuizon
> ---
>
> I am not going to post their second response but they are now aware of
> some issues that may or may not change the wording.
>
> I feel it is imperative for NASA to reach out and support hunters on
> this issue in regards to the need to hunt fresh falls immediately,
> without delay of some permit process. While they are claiming media
> sparked this, most of us knew it was coming, just did not know when or
> how the wording would be.
>
> The current fee structure is twofold. 1. The application / permit.
> 2. The monitoring fee. Currently the fees will range from ~$100 to
> ~$1100 for commercial hunters....those seeking profit. This is based
> on their current cost recovery methods. I have both the application
> and the fee schedule as example based on the above response. If
> anyone wants them shoot me a private email.
>
> The big issue for hunters is that this will be based on a regional
> level where each district supervisor may or may not have special
> conditions, etc. Bottom line is that it will be required to have
> permits in different hunting areas and could greatly increase overhead
> for professional hunters. If hunters have to wait for a permit
> process during a meteor event that produces meteorites, I feel science
> looses.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim
>

______________________________________________

Visit the Archives at
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Fri 21 Sep 2012 11:18:50 AM PDT