Mystery drones the size of SUVs continue to fly over the Jim Bridger Power Plant and other locations in Sweetwater County, with no hint so far about what their purpose may be, according to Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.
Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office’s Lt. Rich Fischer told lawmakers on the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee that the most recent such flight was Feb. 10, during discussion Monday of Senate File 132.
The bill, which has already passed the Senate, seeks to give law enforcement officials and the Wyoming National Guard the power to do more than just observe suspicious drones flying overhead.
They would be authorized to take steps against drones of a suspicious nature that fly over areas the state designated as critical infrastructure.
As Large As A Car
The drones are as large as a car or small SUV, Fischer said, not at all like what an ordinary user might purchase from Walmart or Amazon. Nor are these drones flying at times most local residents would be likely to operate a drone. It’s usually 2 or 3 a.m.
“We don’t know what they are or who is piloting them,” Fischer said. “They did have lights, and were varying in altitude with rapid descent, rapid increase in altitude.”
Fischer said attempts to find an operator by scouting the area were unsuccessful.
“We’ve looked on off-ramps along the interstates, because they’re generally operating north of the interstate,” he said. “Certain times, they’ve been witnessed over both Green River and Rock Springs. But our deputies, law enforcement, we haven’t been able to find anybody specifically out by the power plant.”
Nor did conversations with the FAA reveal anything about who the drone operators might be.
“The operators of these systems may not even be in the state of Wyoming,” Fischer said. “We just don’t know.”
But their behavior has been disconcerting to even law enforcement officials — especially after some of them followed officers back to their headquarters.
“The power plants (are) about 30-some miles east of us,” Fischer said. “And (the officers) were followed back in by a couple of the drones. So, the flight time that these things already had, plus following them back 30-some miles back to the Sheriff’s Office. That flight time is considerable.”
Still Zero Information
Senate File 132’s sponsor is Sen. Stacy Jones, R-Rock Springs. She brought the bill after the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office approached her about the continued drone sightings over infrastructure in Sweetwater County.
“We still have zero information on these drones,” Jones said. “They have also now been seen in Sublette County over some of the gas infrastructure there. This seems to be a spreading issue across the state.”
That makes it imperative, she indicated, that the state identify where critical infrastructure is located and where drones should not be flying without permission.
“The bill just addresses the use and operation of an unmanned aircraft system, which is what we’re calling the drones,” she said. “It gives parameters, exceptions, penalties and it authorizes the use of the Wyoming Air National Guard.”
It goes over unlawful operations of unmanned aircraft, and specifies that drones should not be “loitering” over or near critical infrastructure without permission.
Critical infrastructure would include oil and gas and other energy facilities, jails, railroads and military bases. Hospitals with life flight services would also be included, as well as courts, communication facilities, chemical manufacturing facilities, water treatment plants and mines.
The bill will prohibit drones from carrying explosive devices, something Jones said has been happening in other countries.
“The bill is just giving a little bit of beef to our law enforcement and our governor, that if these things start happening regularly, we can take care of the situation, and we’re authorized to do that,” she said.
Amazon Packages Will Be OK
Legitimate drone use has been kept in mind, Jones added.
“We wanted to make sure we have some stipulations in here, so that we’re not prohibiting the day-to-day use of the drones,” she said. “So, a person is authorized to use a drone if they have FAA compliance. Or a government entity can also use their own unmanned aircraft system.”
These stipulations should be sufficient for things like package deliveries by entities like Amazon, Jones said.
“Their drones are registered with the FAA, and they would be fine to go and deliver, if they ever do that in Wyoming,” she said. “That’d be interesting to see, with our wind, but I think that section would cover them.”
Owners of a property may use unmanned systems over their own property. Drones may also be used by law enforcement officers, medical emergency personnel, and hazardous materials or disaster management teams and the like for incident command reconnaissance.
Downing drones would not necessarily involve gunfire, Jones said. Nor should the bill be read as necessarily authorizing civilians to shoot down drones on their own.
“I am told there are guns that can shoot it down,” Jones said. “But there’s also a means that they can drop a net over it. I know our Air Force does have the means to do that. A net drops over it, and then it would bring the unmanned aircraft down to the ground.”
Advance Notice Problematic
Several lawmakers on the House Minerals Committee asked about adding a provision to SF 132 requiring operators to provide advance notice regarding legitimate drone flights.
Dave Pickard, representing Continental Resources, told lawmakers his company has had issues with drones flying over pipelines and other facilities in other states. Because of that, Continental Resources stands in support of the bill.
Pickard felt advance notice could be problematic for oil and gas companies in general.
“We may need to be flying our pipelines or our facilities on a minute’s notice,” he said. “There could be some incident that happened out there, and you’re going to want to have 911 called first, to respond to that incident, but we might want to be flying it as well, especially if it’s a pipeline.”
Pickard added that the bill’s approach, to have law enforcement actions triggered by complaints from property owners, is a “common sense” feature of the bill.
It will kick off a line of inquiry that Pickard believes gives the owner of critical infrastructure a chance to say that the drone activity is authorized, while also empowering law enforcement to respond rapidly to a developing situation.
Lawmakers decided against adding a requirement for advance notice of drone flights over critical infrastructure, but did add an amendment, proposed by Rep. Reuben Tarver, R-Gillette, to ban harassment of wildlife or farm animals with drones.
Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, called it a good amendment, but said the Legislature will still need to address trespass by drones at a future date.
“We didn’t get it done this session,” she said. “But I think this amendment is perfect. It helps the issue along.”
Both the amendment and the bill passed the House unanimously.
Roll Call
Members of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee all voted for Senate File 132. The committee includes Committee Chairman Scott Heiner, R-Green River; Rep. Kevin Campbell, R-Glenrock; Rep. Chris Knapp, R-Gillette; Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs; Lawley; Rep. J.R. Riggins, R-Casper; Rep. Mike Schmid, R-La Barge; Tarver; and Rep. Nina Webber, R-Cody.
Tarver proposed an amendment to include harassment of farm animals or wildlife by drones in the bill, which also passed unanimously.
The bill now heads back to the floor, for further consideration by the House committee as a whole.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
