Burning Man’s lawsuit against the U.S. Federal Government has been officially set in motion

Burning Man will move forward with suing the U.S. federal government.

Burning Man first filed the lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) back in December, demanding that the goverment honor its appeals process in relation to costs that it imposes at the event. It equates to a total of $18 million in permit costs levied against the festival since 2015.

First shared via Digital Music News, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt has been issued a summons to appear in Washington D.C.’s District Court. Secretary Bernhardt is representing the American government in the case, and has 60 days (from the date that he received the summons) to respond.

The event claimed that it was being harmed by "costs imposed by Defendant Winnemucca District Office for the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM"), the process by which those costs have been demanded, the inadequate justification for the costs, and the unreasonable delay confronted by BRC [Black Rock City LLC, which throws the event] during the appeal of those costs."

In a separate statement, the Burning Man Project said the suit was necessary. "BLM has been charging our organization for unreasonable costs related to the annual Burning Man event in Northern Nevada," the statement read.

It continued: "Burnng Man Project has been seeking IBLA relief from these costs for nearly four years, and the IBLA has unreasonably denied that relief in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. This case is our attempt to break this cycle."

The full suit can be read here.