WHAT THE ??? Federal regulators can't talk to the industries they're regulating?

[T]he Administrative Procedures Act, longstanding federal law that governs the process by which federal agencies make rules for the industries they regulate, is very strict about when and how officials may share their thinking about future regulations.

“Under the Administrative Procedures Act, we cannot discuss what a proposed regulation might look like, and so that kind of hinders us in talking to industry,” Melroy said.

So even as AST prepares to tap industry experts for their take on launch, flight and passenger safety, the office has set certain ground rules to avoid running afoul of the law.

“We can’t propose anything, we can’t tell people what we think the answer is, or anything like that,” Melroy said. “But we can tee up a subject and then let people talk to us, and that will help us understand if we’re on the right track or not.”

No expertise required ....