On May 20 Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 505 requiring the marking of MET towers in rural areas. Approval of the bill makes Texas the 14th state with tower marking legislation and is the result of the efforts by the Texas Agricultural Aviation Association (TAAA). 

TAAA Executive Director Chris Shields expressed his appreciation to the agricultural aviation association family—state, regional and national—for all of its leaders’ help in accomplishing this major safety feat for low-level aviation in the Lone Star State.  According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Texas is the top wind power state with nearly 36 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity. Iowa is second, with more than 15 million MWh.  Shields’ veteran status as a respected Texas lobbyist and long-serving TAAA executive director was instrumental in the law’s passage. 

As reported April 3 in the eNewsletter, Texas already has some tower marking requirements, SB 505 rewrites the existing requirements to make them more effective, and adds others. SB 505 does the following:

• Defines “tower” as a self-sustaining or guy wired structure not more than 6 feet in diameter, and is capable of mounting sensors and cameras. Extends marking requirements to towers over 50 feet (rather than 100 feet in existing law). Towers must be painted in equal, alternating bands of aviation orange and white, beginning with orange at the top of the tower;
• States that high visibility spherical marker balls of aviation orange color should be installed and displayed in accordance with the standards contained in FAA advisory circular on Marking Meteorological Evaluation Towers (FR-2011-06-24) and the additional standards found in FAA Advisory Circular AC 70/7460-1;
• Guy wires must have a seven foot safety sleeve at each anchor point;
• Towers erected prior to the effective date must be marked as required by the legislation within one year of the effective date of the legislation;
• Contains a Penalty provision for non-compliance with different penalties for violations resulting in death or injury versus those that do not result in death or injury: Class B misdemeanor for the former and Class C misdemeanor for the latter; and
• Adds a reporting and registration requirement to be administered by the Texas Department of Transportation.

The bill also exempts FCC communications towers, towers adjacent to buildings, as well as utility and transmission towers.