[meteorite-list] New BLM Rules

From: Michael Mulgrew <mikestang_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:48:01 -0700
Message-ID: <CAMseTy3EoSuPenfQgcnXS3WxSWZFUzDS1TrNyK1Xiw9cyRn4ZQ_at_mail.gmail.com>

Peter, you either have unlimited rights or you have no rights. "Laws"
(of which this meteorite BLM nonsense is not) do not grant people
rights. Any "law" that benefits a government over its people has no
place in my book.

Michael in so. Cal.

On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 8:18 AM, Peter Scherff <peterscherff at rcn.com> wrote:
> 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
>>
>
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Received on Fri 21 Sep 2012 01:48:01 PM PDT