Owen leads effort for consistent guidelines
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – When drones started cropping up around the world several years ago with increasing numbers there was plenty of curiosity about the many ways they were starting to be used.
When mega-corporate giant Amazon announced they would start using drones to deliver packages to homes it got the interest of Louisiana Rep. Bob Owen (R-Sli.), who thought it was time to see what the laws allowed.
“When I heard Amazon was coming to Slidell, I wondered what kind of laws here would allow them to operate, and I was trying to make sure they would be able to do their job without a problem,” he said.
Fast forward almost two years and Owen is preparing a bill to introduce in the Louisiana Legislature this spring that will set up the Louisiana Drone Advisory Committee, which will sort out what laws need to be in place to offer consistent and fair guidance for the use of drones, which includes the business use and the private use.
When he began to research the topic he found that many smaller cities in the state had set up their own laws—and most of them were all very different.
“When drones first came out and got noticed there were a lot of cities that banned them outright because they were concerned about people using them to be a Peeping Tom in somebody’s bedroom window,” he said.
But as he learned more about the use of the drones, he heard other stories that were more concerning.
“There have been documented cases of Chinese boats coming up the Mississippi River to the area where all the chemical plants are and drones were seen flying over the plants. There have actually been cases of corporate espionage because of those situations,” he said.
Ultimately, Owen and the committee will craft laws that would set industry standards, and let private citizens know what they can or cannot do with the drones.
The entire issue is under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which currently states that if a drone flies higher than 400 feet high then you need a pilot’s license. Under 400 feet and anybody can use them.
“The main issue is ‘where can you fly?’ We are seeing that the best way to approach the entire situation is by allowing any public easements, like roads and publicly owned property,” he explained. “But that presents a problem when the day comes that businesses like Amazon will probably have drones literally fly up to your front door and drop off a package.”
“We have to protect the privacy rights of citizens, but then we want to find a way to allow things like the delivery of a package, so that is what we have to sort through,” he added.
When the committee gathers all the information it needs it will present it to the Louisiana Legislature Transportation Committee.
Owen said he found out that drones were being used in more places already than a lot of people might think. He has found a lot of agriculture use spraying fields, military use, insurance companies viewing roofs, chemical companies monitoring their facilities, offshore, Homeland Security and lots of increasing private use.
“The drones are a part of the future so we have to figure out what the right regulation is,” he said. “But we don’t want too much regulation.
“We have to make sure and protect the citizens from the intrusion of drones but allow business to utilize them in a proper manner,” he added. “It’s a bit of a challenge to figure out, but that’s why we will be forming the committee to take it on.”