Sen. Johnson predicts drones will be a topic for 2015 Oregon Legislature

– Senator Betsy Johnson in Tillamook Headlight Herald

…If drones were on your Christmas Wish List, keep an eye on the 2015 Oregon Legislature…

Since Oregon was one of six states selected by the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct test sites on drones, this state is positioned to take advantage of what could become a clean, multi-billion dollar industry…

Results from Oregon’s test sites will be used to help the FAA develop a drone policy.

Currently, the FAA grants permits for unmanned aviation vehicles used in research and in such operations as aerial surveying and monitoring forest fires. The public can also fly them as a hobby…

We respond & Your Comments

We share Sen. Johnson’s hope that drones become a multi-billion industry. But why is it so slow in coming?

And why are drones right now creating jobs in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong?

The answer: government. The FAA that now wants to just test drones in six states has smothered this infant industry.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “…all the R&D [research & development] has been done outside the U.S. because beaurocrats at the [FAA] prohibit commercial use of drones. Amazon sought the FAA’s permission to operate an outdoor testing facility in the U.S. but was denied. The company now bases its drone work in Cambridge, England.” [Editors’ note: are they afraid commercial use might create jobs and get folks off welfare?]

With FAA rules not expected before 2017, how many companies will invest how many billions developing drones abroad? How many doltish Senators (and Presidents?) will curse them as “unpatriotic” for taking their business offshore? How many jobs will not be created here?

We hope Senator Johnson is right. But we fear that she may need to fly across an ocean to visit what should have been a multi billion dollar industry right here.

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