ELR 11069 Climate Drones : A New Tool for Oil and Gas Air Emission Monitoring

In recent years, the proliferation of commercial drone or unmanned aircraft system (UAS) applications in the United States has generated significant discussion and controversy among legal scholars and practitioners attempting to navigate this budding industry . The drone phenomenon is just starting to catch on in the area of environmental monitoring and enforcement . There is immense potential for using drones to maximize an operation’s efficiencies while also reducing its environmental impact; one area that is particularly ripe for UAS integration is methane emission monitoring in oil and gas operations . However, the legal framework has been slow to catch up with the rapid growth of UAS capabilities . This Article examines the FAA’s regulatory process and identifies the best pathways for companies to integrate drones into their operations . It also addresses concerns related to the First and Fourth Amendments, in addition to the property rights conundrum surrounding the use of drones by agencies and other entities that conduct environmental monitoring . New technologies give rise to new but familiar legal issues . Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)—more commonly known as drones—are well known for their military functions, but the potential for new public, civilian, and commercial UAS applications is immense and starting to catch on in the United States .1 One area that is extremely ripe for UAS integration is environmental monitoring and enforcement . The ways in which UAS can help us better understand and solve some of our most challenging environmental problems is limited only by one’s imagination . For example, imagine a fleet of autonomous drones designed to monitor and remove greenhouse gases and other airborne pollutants from the atmosphere .2 It may sound like science fiction, but “with the convergence of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and nanotechnology,” deploying these climate-fixing drones could soon become a reality .3 Aside from these future applications, there are numerous ways drones are already being used to better the environment . While only a handful of entities are currently using UAS in their operations, the limiting factor is not science or technology: it’s the law . So far, the regulatory framework has been slow to catch up with the rapid growth of UAS capabilities .4 There are also constitutional concerns and property rights issues surrounding the use of drones by government agencies and other entities in the area of environmental monitoring . Lawmakers have enacted statutes that may limit the potential of these sorts of applications . That said, the widespread use of UAS for environmental purposes appears to be inevitable . The pace at which these drones are integrated depends in large part on the issuance of regulations by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) . Moreover, the industry, government agencies, and even ordinary citizens will dictate how fast UAS become standard tools for environmental monitoring and compliance . This Article narrows its focus to UAS integration in the context of air pollution monitoring in the oil and gas sector, but one can imagine how the analysis would be similar for other industries that oversee large operations and infrastructure and are under constant pressure to reduce their environmental impact .5 Oil and gas systems provide a