Rick Cooper to Jim Abbott (Associate State Director)

3/10/2009

(partial excerpt)

Regarding the Resource Advisory Council tour:

It is unfortunate that we have a scheduled RAC tour in this window of time preceding the decision.  feel more than a little uncomfortable going through this tour without being able to give this group a heads up of what is about to occur. My concern is the group will be disappointed that BLM did not approach them or use them in an advisory capacity on the issue.

Regarding the permitting of Special Recreation Permits (Molina Ghost Run and RUTS):

The liability issue is a tough one. But it is important to note that the life time excess cancer risk models are depicting risk based on 30 years of a person conducting the activity. An additional 4 weeks (weekends) will not appreciably increase the risk to the public based on the model, and we are basing our decision on this model.