WASHINGTON, District of Columbia USA — On August 23-24, 1999, we visited Washington, DC to review the status of our effort to minimize regulation on the HPR hobby with our counsel, Egan and Associates. We also participated in a 1.5 hour meeting with ATF staff. Our thanks to Joe Egan, John Lawrence, John Kyte and Charlie Black for their kind hospitality during our visit, and to Wally Nelson of ATF for meeting arrangements.

On July 15, 1999, Egan and Associates requested via a letter to ATF General Counsel, a meeting with ATF staff, to review the status of a potential Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), and the underlying legal basis for the proposed regulations as understood by the rocketry organizations. In addition to the requested meeting, Egan and Associates filed a Freedom of Information Request regarding a reported 442 explosive incident reports where sport rocketry materials were used. In response, ATF met with us and invited staff from the General Counsel's office, the Explosives Technology Branch, and Public Safety, and provided documentation in response to the FOIA.

At the meeting, each association outlined its membership, programs and missions; Joe Egan presented a summary of the legal basis on which we believe ATF lacks authority to regulate the HPR hobby. Joe then asked for clarification on the ATF legal positions, the methodology by which the annual explosives item list was generated, the status of the NPRM production, and the level to which any public safety or criminal activity issues were present in ATF's assessment of HPR motors and activity.

As expected, the ATF did not offer direct input regarding legal issues. They agreed to review a detailed document prepared by Egan and Associates outlining the legal issues and met separately with Joe to review that document. We expect that meeting to occur in the next 30 days.

In response to the FOIA, substantial portions of the report were redacted (i.e., blacked out), apparently due to pending cases. However, our counsel has undertaken a new FOIA to obtain more information on these incidents. Additional FOIA's were filed relative to the inclusion of ammonium perchlorate propellent's inclusion on the annual list of explosives.

As of this date, all options, administrative, judicial and legislative remain open to the associations to seek relief from further regulation of the HPR hobby. We will assess with counsel our next steps after the legal meeting with ATF and the responses to our FOIA requests.

As always, we appreciate the patience of our members, welcome further inputs and pledge to keep you fully informed as events develop.

Mark Bundick, NAR President
Bruce Kelly, TRA President