The leaders of the House Science Committee have asked the Biden administration to withdraw a controversial proposed rule regarding commercial spaceflight investigations, calling it “plainly unlawful.”
In an April 6 letter to President Biden, Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the House Science Committee, called on the administration to withdraw proposed regulations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that would give the board new authority to investigate launch failures.
The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), published in November, would require companies to notify the NTSB in the event of a failure of launch licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration, and give the board the authority to investigate such accidents. During a public comment period that closed in January, many companies and industry groups sharply criticized the proposed regulations, calling them duplicative with existing FAA regulations and warning that they could create “a chilling effect” on industry.
In their letter, Johnson and Lucas argue that NTSB overstepped its bounds by proposing to take a role in commercial spaceflight investigations. “Responsibilities and authorities for space accident investigation are to be determined by congressional action, as reflected in Title 51 of the United States Code, not through proposed regulations that are outside of established authorities,” they wrote. “The NTSB’s proposed rulemaking is inconsistent with statutory authorities, existing interagency agreements and regulations, and it is plainly unlawful.”
The letter is not the first time that members and staff of the committee have raised their concerns about the NTSB proposal.
Every successful system accumulates parasites. The commercial space industry is now big enough that the parasitic load is increasing. Bureaucratic power grabs are just the beginning.