Burning Man's Lawsuit Over New Fees Moves Ahead

The Man does not abide the county's fee.

A lawsuit filed by organizers of Burning Man against Pershing County, Nevada -- where Black Rock City sets up every August in the desert -- over the local government's new fees for the event is going forward, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jones denied a motion by Pershing County to dismiss the suit entirely, meaning Black Rock City LLC can tell a court why the "county's thinly veiled attempt to exact more fees or drive" Burning Man "out of Nevada" should be kiboshed, the newspaper reported.

Burning Man has been a fixture of the Black Rock desert in Nevada since 1991. The art event pays $1.5 million in fees to the U.S. Department of the Interior for a permit -- but the permit says that Burning Man must also set up an arrangement with Pershing County.

The event has done that every year since 2006, but last year, a local law went into effect that "levies new fees against Burning Man," the newspaper reported. Burning Man says that the extra $600,000 to $800,000 in fees go above and beyond costs to the local Sheriff's Department -- hence the lawsuit.

There's a law in the works at the Nevada state Legislature that would also ban local governments from extracting money from events on federal land, the newspaper reported. But in the meantime, the Man will go to court.