Drone Lobby Takes Flight on K Street

from The Hill

Lobbyists in Washington are mobilizing to help ensure that drones soon take flight across the United States.

With the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) racing to craft rules to incorporate unmanned aircraft into national airspace, lobby teams representing everyone from Hollywood studios to farmers are working to influence the outcome.

Firms that have both legal and advocacy arms say activity on drone regulations has exploded.

“It’s so widespread because it almost has a science-fiction element to it,” said Jack Schenendorf, a former Capitol Hill staffer who worked to prime the Bush administration’s incoming Transportation Department in 2001.

“We’re creating a regulatory scheme where there really isn’t one today,” said Schenendorf, who is now a counsel at Covington & Burling. “The FAA regulates aircraft, but [drones are] a different animal … they’re going to be making a set of rules and regulations from the ground up, and that’s what has intrigued a lot of people.”

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