Georgia Republican to introduce felony-level bill mirroring Florida law, sparking debate over cloud seeding and “chemtrails.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced Saturday her intent to introduce a groundbreaking bill aimed at outlawing “weather modification,” vowing to make the “injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity” a felony offense.
In a Saturday post on X, Greene revealed she has been “researching weather modification and working with the legislative counsel for months writing this bill.”
Her announcement comes as a similar bill, Florida’s Senate Bill 56, was recently signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in late June. That legislation imposes a $100,000 fine and a five-year prison sentence for individuals engaging in geoengineering and weather modification.
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A key target of both Greene’s proposed bill and Florida’s new law is cloud seeding, an 80-year-old technology that involves adding tiny particles, typically silver iodide crystals, to clouds to induce rain or snow. While some states have employed this practice, it has been rarely undertaken at the federal level.
Florida’s new law explicitly prohibits “the injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight.”
Violations are now a felony of the third degree, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine not exceeding $100,000. This significantly increases the penalties from previous misdemeanor offenses and repeals a host of older Florida statutes (403.281 through 403.401, F.S.) that previously dealt with the licensing and regulation of weather modification activities.
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“We must end the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering.”
The Georgia lawmaker’s initiative raises questions about the intersection of scientific practices, public perception, and legislative action, particularly concerning the potential health impacts of abrupt weather changes, a topic often discussed in relation to such theories.
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What exactly is Cloud Seeding?
Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to increase the amount or type of precipitation (rain or snow), mitigate hail, or disperse fog. It’s a decades-old technology that has been used in various parts of the world, particularly in arid or drought-prone regions.
Here’s how it generally works:
Targeting Clouds: Cloud seeding is only effective when certain types of clouds are present, specifically those containing “supercooled liquid water” (water droplets that remain liquid even at temperatures below freezing).
Introducing Seeding Agents: Tiny particles, known as “seeding agents” or “ice nuclei,” are introduced into these clouds. The most common seeding agent is silver iodide (AgI), which has a crystalline structure similar to natural ice crystals. Other agents like dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), liquid propane, or certain salt compounds can also be used.
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Encouraging Ice Formation: These seeding agents provide a surface or “landing pad” for the supercooled water molecules to attach to and freeze, forming ice crystals. This process mimics natural precipitation, where water vapor condenses around naturally occurring particles like dust or pollen.
Growth and Precipitation: Once ice crystals form around the seeding agents, they begin to grow by attracting more water molecules. As they grow larger and heavier, they eventually fall from the cloud as rain or snow.
Methods of Delivery:
Aircraft: Seeding agents can be released directly into clouds by planes, either by burning flares containing silver iodide from the wings or by dropping ejectable flares from above the cloud.
Ground-based generators: In some cases, generators on the ground burn a solution containing silver iodide, allowing the particles to rise into the cloud with favorable wind conditions.
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