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30 | JUNE 4, 2014
OPINION FLATHEADBEACON.COM

LIKE I WAS SAYIN’ Kellyn Brown
TWO THOUGHT
FOR Local Topics,
Opposing Views
Regulating the Sky
Get Involved

OBy Joe Carbonari By Tim Baldwin
NE OF THE MORE MEMORABLE POLITICAL
ads that aired this primary election cycle depicted Next the general election. We’ve made some
I’ve heard many say, a “conservative” is some-

state Sen. Matt Rosendale, vying for the Republi- choices, but we have more to make. In doing so one who always wants smaller government and
can nomination for U.S. House, shooting down a govern- let’s consider the concept of “civic attitude.”
“liberals” are those who always want bigger gov-
ment drone with a rile. He went on to say, “More taxes and How does the candidate view the job involved? ernment. That person is wrong. In reality, conser-
regulations put Montana families out of work. Spying on Is he/she likely to be too sensitive, or too callous,
vatives want to reduce certain government func-
our citizens: that’s just wrong.” What was even more inter- to the public’s interest?
tions and liberals want to reduce certain govern-
esting about the commercial is that his primary opponent, Those who are the most sensitive often under-
ment functions. The two groups, however, nor-
former state Sen. Ryan Zinke, has previously promoted de- estimate the inancial pain that can be associated mally disagree on which government functions to

veloping drones in Montana for commercial use.
with new, even desirable, services. Government reduce.
Perhaps this was just a coincidence. I doubt it.
gets bigger and it continually needs additional I will illustrate the point. Most conservatives
To be clear, no one (at least no one I know) supports dollars to extend services to the newly arrived, believe that drugs should be illegal even though
the federal government spying on its private citizens with with maintenance and replacement also to con- drug laws are arguably the largest way through
drones. But now that private citizens own drones, both sider.
which government is enlarged and destroys peo-
highly advanced and very basic, it is worth exploring how On the other hand, there are those who are un- ple’s lives. By comparison, most liberals believe
they are regulated and how a burgeoning industry has, for der-sensitive, and tend to conlate eiciency with the United States should not intervene in foreign
years, largely been left in limbo.
efectiveness. Eiciency, yes, but not at the cost afairs. In these examples, conservatives want

Often, at least in news reports, drones, or Unmanned of insensitivity to a signiicant public interest. vastly more government and liberals want vastly
Aircraft Systems (UAS), are ailiated with government Green boxes in Bigfork, Somers and Marion, for less government.
overreach or targeting terrorists in far of lands. But it’s instance. Parking lot maintenance in Kalispell. The question, thus, boils down to government’s
ironic that Rosendale took aim at a drone from a ranch, be- How do we value the beneits of the services pro- purpose, not its size. The purpose of government
cause, alas, ranchers use drones. At least they do until the vided, or denied? Who is making that valuation has been debated and contested since man formed
Federal Aviation Administration tells them to stop.
for us?
society, and it is based on one’s view of human na-
National Public Radio’s “Planet Money” recently aired Let’s choose people who understand and rep- ture. For Montana and the United States, our con-

a segment on drones and how the government has left le- resent a cross-section of us, who have a work- stitutions establish the general purposes of gov-
gitimate business owners in limbo while it drags its pro- ing sense of the world at large, and who can both ernment. Notably, even at the formation of these
verbial feet on what to do about them.
listen and explain themselves to a wide range of constitutions, the founders did not agree on this
One entrepreneur proiled on the segment owns a com- folks. Let’s choose those who remember that their topic. That we disagree on this point today is not
pany, Louisiana Hog Control, which used a drone equipped mission is to serve the public. We are not simply only unsurprising; it is expected.
with heat-seeking sensors to track down wild hogs that consumers of services. We are co-owners and co- Experience suggests which policies are pru-
were ruining crops. It was grounded. His plight is appar- users. We are often dealing with those we know. It dent. Economy suggests which policies are unaf-
ently common and partially rooted in a Supreme Court should be a respectful, pleasant interchange. We fordable. Circumstances reveal what is necessary.

ruling that deined what a citizen owns above his or her are they; they are us.
Enjoy the debate and get involved.
head. How much of the air is private property?
GUESTCOLUMN | FrankVitale
Before airplanes, under common law a person who
owned the land also owned the air above it. That changed North Fork Bill Blocked by Tea Party Ploy
in 1926, when Congress created the Federal Aviation Ad-
ministration, which determined that airspace above 500
feet is public domain.
My ailiation with the North Fork spans 35 As Congressman Daines knows, the vote in the
In 1946, however, the Supreme Court took further years. As a North Fork landowner I’ve worked, hunt- Senate (by “unanimous consent”) was the Senate’s

steps to protect private property owners when it ruled that ed, ished and cleared many miles of trails. For me, equivalent of how the House passed the bill. Ac-
low-lying planes caused a North Carolina man’s chickens keeping the North Fork pristine is personal.
cording to the nonpartisan Congressional Research
to “jump up against the side of the chicken house” and die. That’s why I’m so disappointed by the recent de- Service, “Most noncontroversial measures are ap-
It decided that the air above his land, up to 83 feet, was pro- cision by Republicans in Congress to block a biparti- proved by ‘suspension of the rules’ in the House, and
tected for the property owner. That still left a lot of unreg- san bill to protect the North Fork.
by unanimous consent in the Senate.”
ulated air space between 83 feet and 500 feet, which mat- Montanans have read conlicting information In fact, all eight Senate public lands bills that
tered less until the advent of drones.
about how we reached this impasse. I want to set the have passed the chamber this Congress passed by

Now, an agency accustomed to regulating large air- record straight.
unanimous consent. Those bills set aside 85,000
crafts is deciding what to do with tiny drones. And the Congressman Steve Daines recently told US acres of new Wilderness and 73 miles of Wild and
process is excruciatingly slow. Meanwhile, UAS operators News that his strategy to win the Senate race this Scenic River designation in eight diferent states.
around the country – ranchers who use them to ind cattle year is to pick of and neutralize constituents like So why is the North Fork bill so diferent for Sen-
and photographers who use them to take commercial im- advocates for the North Fork. His recent actions ate Republicans?
ages – have received letters in the mail that say they are show why he can’t be trusted.
The answer reminds me of another Senate race
breaking the law.
Sens. John Walsh and Jon Tester are pushing a 26 years ago when President Reagan pocket-vetoed
Recently, a federal judge struck down a $10,000 ine bill, originally introduced in 2010, to withdraw the the last Montana wilderness bill to pass Congress

leveled by the FAA against photographer Raphael Pirker U.S. watershed from future development, following in order to jam then-Sen. John Melcher in his race
for using a drone. The court essentially said there is no law through on a deal between Montana and British Co- against Conrad Burns.
that bans lying drones, so the agency has no right to arbi- lumbia to permanently protect the North Fork.
For example, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is
trarily enforce rules not yet on the books.
Montanans were hopeful when Daines intro- insisting on the opportunity to ofer controversial
And that’s the problem. Business owners with even duced a companion bill last year marking the irst amendments to the North Fork that would have
small remote-control model aircrafts have been told they time in 30 years that the whole delegation support- brought down the entire proposal. This is a familiar
can’t use them for commercial purposes until the FAA ig- ed a public lands bill. Our hopes rose further when ploy. The same Republican demand last fall (sup-

ures out how to regulate them. Some were assured that all on March 4 the U.S. House passed the bill.
ported by Congressman Daines) caused the shut-
this would be sorted within months – and that was years Unfortunately the North Fork has now run into down of the federal government for 16 days, costing
ago.
the Tea Party gauntlet in the Senate. What is clear is Montana upwards of $45 million in lost business
While no one wants the government spying on him or that the game was rigged.
from Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks alone.
her with drones, I doubt many think it should have a mo- On April 3, three Republican senators from oth- I am conident that our senators will ind a way
nopoly on using them either. Now the FAA says it will pro- er states – Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Texas – to protect the North Fork. But how can Montanans
pose rules for small drone use by the end of the year. Those blocked our senators’ attempt to pass this made-in- trust Steve Daines when he won’t even stand up to
who use them are still waiting.
Montana bill in the Senate. The senator from Penn- his own allies in the Senate who help inance his

sylvania, Pat Toomey, recently donated $10,000 to campaign?
Congressman Daines’ campaign.
Frank Vitale lives in Columbia Falls.