Oklahoma Gov.Mary Fallin signed a drone bill into law this week, one defining the prohibition of flights over certain critical infrastructure facilities.
She signed House Bill 2599 into law on Wednesday, the only measure to be made law that day. It will be effective Nov. 1, 2016.
The unmanned aircraft bill, as it was called, forbids drone flights over facilities enclosed by a fence or other physical barriers that are obviously designed to keep out intruders. Such structures include a petroleum or alumina refinery, electrical power generating operations including substations, chemical manufacturing sites, natural gas compressor stations and liquid natural gas terminals and storage sites.
The list of banned flight areas include dams regulated by the state or federal government, natural gas distribution utility facilities, transmission towers of radio and tv stations, a railroad switching yard, trucking terminal, cell towers, gas processing plants and “any aboveground portion of an oil, gas, hazardous liquid or chemical pipeline that is enclosed by a fence or other physical barrier.”
The new law does not carry any criminal penalty but a violator “may be civilly liable for damages to the critical infrastructure facility to include, but not be limited to, damage to property, the environment or human health.”