OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — A new law keeping drones away from oil and gas sites, among other areas considered "critical infrastructure", may conflict with existing Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, a spokesman said.
The law was signed by Governor Mary Fallin Wednesday.
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House Bill 2599 would create a fine for any UAV operator who damaged or destroyed that infrastructure including power plants, rail yards, TV stations and steelmaking plants, among other places. The law prohibits flight under 400 feet, "making contact" with the facility or "causes a disturbance."
In her written executive order accompanying the bill's signing, Fallin attempted to heed off the FAA issues in a highly technical explanation.
Because federally-regulated commercial operators may receive a blanket Certificate of Waiver or Authorization for flights anywhere in the country, as long as the flights are conducted in compliance with certain, specific FAA safety standards... it's only logical to equate 'operations over that airspace' with 'operations over airspace as authorized by the FAA'," Fallin wrote. "Any different interpretation would... be inconsistent with FAA regulation."
In December, the chief counsel's office for the FAA issued a fact sheet for state and local agencies who might be considering creating new laws or ordinances. In it, it breaks down what the FAA regulates and recommends consultation before local governing bodies issue laws.
The guidance provides suggestions of what falls under FAA authority and what doesn't and says that any new laws "should be consistent with the extensive federal statutory and regulatory framework pertaining to control of the airspace" that is already under federal purview.
"Substantial air safety issues are raised when state or local governments attempt to regulate the operation or flight of aircraft," the memo reads.
"States and local jurisdictions are increasingly exploring regulation of UAS or proceeding to enact legislation relating to UAS operations," reads the memo. "In 2015, approximately 45 states have considered restrictions on UAS."
The FAA writes that it does not want a "patchwork quilt" of regulations across the country for pilots to follow.
The bill's author said the specific text was changed to avoid an FAA conflict.
"Even with new FAA regulations, this should be fairly close in line with what they decide to do," said senator Ron Sharp of Shawnee. "We changed it from criminal incident to a civil one and only if someone flies over and damages the refinery, electrical grid or other infrastructure."
Sharp says the idea is to keep drones away from critical parts of the infrastructure in order to make them safer, not keeping cameras away.
"We don't want to keep individuals from having drones, we just want them to stay away from infrastructure," he said.
The FAA said they weren't sure if Oklahoma had consulted with them or their guidelines.