Alabama

The environmentalist group Black Warrior Riverkeeper is concerned about a new drone bill In the Alabama House of Representatives.

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The Alabama legislature is today trying to pass a bill (HB36 & SB45) that would “provide for the crime of unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure by prohibiting the operation of an unmanned aircraft system, or drone, to conduct surveillance of, gather evidence or collect information about, or photographically or electronically record a critical infrastructure.” The bill specifically adds the term pipeline to the term critical infrastructure. This would, for instance, make it illegal for environmentalists to use drones to monitor pollution.

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Since April 2016, there have been five hazardous or at least unauthorized drone flights reported, flying too close to the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Alabama, which happens to be the busiest airport in the state. This was revealed by ABC 33/40 after a review of the Federal Aviation Administration records. In two cases the drones passed within 200 feet of private airplanes. These reports come in the wake of other drone incidents over Staten Island, NY, Canada, New Zealand, and England.

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