Senators urge FAA: Don’t delay drone tests

Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., joined colleagues Tuesday in calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to speed up approvals for unmanned aerial systems test permits, and to ensure the agency’s plans to regulate these aircraft don’t fall behind schedule.

The FAA created six test sites across the country to study unmanned aircraft in response to a request from Congress in 2012 to craft regulations that meet the unique safety challenges posed by UAS.

The agency, which is responsible for overseeing the safety of U.S. airspace, has until September 2015 to create a strategy to integrate unmanned aircraft into U.S. airspace.

“In light of recent reports, I am concerned that proposed regulations on small, commercial unmanned aircraft will be costly, needlessly restrictive and hinder research and development for the growing UAS industry,” Wyden said in a letter sent Tuesday.

“The FAA needs to act quickly to alleviate these concerns and issue guidelines for developers and operators of unmanned aircraft that will give certainty to the UAS industry and ensure the safety and privacy of Americans,” he added.

Wyden, along with Sens Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., asked the FAA to streamline its process for allowing UAS operators to test their aircraft at designated sites.

Obtaining a Certificate or Waiver of Authorization can take from two months to a year, according to the FAA.

Oregon houses three UAS test ranges: the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and airspace outside Pendleton and Tillamook.

“We remain concerned about the impacts that continued delays in the process are having on the American UAS industry and the national economy, and the safety risk posed by expanding unlicensed operations,” the senators wrote in the letter.

Commercial unmanned aircraft use is a growing industry with the potential to contribute significantly to the U.S. economy. The senators noted the possible chilling effect on creative developments in unmanned aircraft technologies without clarification from FAA on how to proceed.

“This industry cannot continue to grow without further direction and guidance from the FAA on its planned regulations,” they wrote.

Read the full letter here.

On another matter, Sens. Wyden, Richard Burr, R-N.C., and a bipartisan coalition of 39 of their Senate colleagues urged Senate leaders Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to work with them to find a permanent funding solution for the Land and Water Conservation Fund before the end of the current Congress on Dec. 31, in a letter sent Monday.

The LWCF program, which helps ensure access to outdoor recreation areas by providing funding to protect public lands and matching state grants, is set to expire in September 2015. In the 50 years since Congress created the program, the LWCF has helped conserve land for national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, wilderness, monuments, and civil war battlefields, and served as a resource for creating and developing state and local parks in all 50 states.

“The Land and Water Conservation Fund guarantees a prosperous and vital future for the next generation while preserving our uniquely American way of life across this nation,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Accordingly, we urge you to enact a permanent and comprehensive solution for this vital program before the 113 th Congress adjourns.”

The LWCF is funded almost entirely by oil and gas leasing along the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Congress authorized the fund at $900 million through the end of the fiscal year, on Sept. 30, 2015.

Other senators who signed the letter include: Senators Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., John Walsh, D-Mont., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Tom Udall, D-N.M., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Joe Manchin, D-W.V., Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Angus King, I-Maine, Kay Hagan, D-N.C., Jon Tester, D-Mont., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Al Franken, D-Minn., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Chris Coons, D-Del., Robert P. Casey, Jr., D-Penn., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Mark Pryor, D-Ark., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Mark Udall, D-Colo., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

Read the letter here.