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

• Date: 01 December 2016

12-2016 NEWS & ANALYSIS 46 ELR 11069

Climate Drones:

A New Tool for

Oil and Gas Air

Emission

Monitoring

by Lucas Satterlee

Lucas Satterlee is an Associate at Stinson Leonard Street

LLP whose practice is focused on environmental and natural

resource law. He is part of the rm’s Unmanned Vehicles

and Systems practice group. Lucas is a 2016 graduate

of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Summary

In recent years, the proliferation of commercial drone

or unmanned aircraft system (UAS) applications in

the United States has generated signicant discussion

and controversy among legal scholars and practitio-

ners attempting to navigate this budding industry.

e drone phenomenon is just starting to catch on

in the area of environmental monitoring and enforce-

ment. ere is immense potential for using drones to

maximize an operation’s eciencies while also reduc-

ing its environmental impact; one area that is partic-

ularly 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. is Article exam-

ines the FAA’s regulatory process and identies 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 militar y 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. e ways in which UAS can

help us better understand and solve some of our most chal-

lenging environmental problems is limited only by one’s

imagination. For example, imagine a eet of autonomous

drones designed to monitor and remove greenhouse gases

and other airborne pollutants from the atmosphere.2 It

may sound like science ction, but “with the convergence

of articial intelligence, quantum computing, and nano-

technology,” deploying these climate-xing drones could

soon become a reality.3 Aside from these future applica-

tions, 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, t he regulatory frame-

work has been slow to catch up with the rapid growth

of UAS capabilities.4 ere are also constitutional con-

cerns and property rights issues surrounding the use

of drones by government agencies a nd other entities in

the area of environmental monitoring. Lawmakers have

enacted statutes that may limit the potential of these sorts

of applications. at said, the widespread use of UAS for

environmental purposes appea rs to be inevitable. e

pace at which these drones are integrated depends in large

part on the issuance of regulations by the Federal Avia-

tion Administration (FAA). Moreover, the industry, gov-

ernment agencies, and even ordinar y citizens will dictate

how fast UAS become standard tools for environmental

monitoring and compliance.

is Article narrows its focus to UAS integration in the

context of air pollution monitoring in the oil and gas sec-

tor, but one can imagine how the analysis would be simi-

lar 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

1. Market analysts predict “over the next 10 years, worldwide production for

UAS of all types of applications could rise from $4 billion annually to $14

billion.” B C, U A S (UAS): C

O   N I 1 (Cong. Res. Service 2015) (R44192).

2. See D P, T D A 6-7 (2016).

3. A group of these “drones—swarm, eet, or ock,” would be equipped with

the “computing, analysis, and chemical compounds to monitor, analyze,

and x certain” atmospheric conditions by scrubbing the air and removing

excess pollution; resulting in a “real-time molecular x.” Id. at 7 (explaining

that this scenario “is within reality’s grip”).

4. See C, supra note 1, at 1.

5. Agriculture, real estate, construction, and electric utilities are among the

other markets that anticipate rapid adoption of UAS. Id. at 9-10.

Copyright © 2016 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.