Tennessee Senate vote didn’t ban ‘chemtrails,’ bill advanced to House committee | Fact check
The claim: Tennessee Senate vote banned chemtrails
A March 21 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows an image with contrails in the sky beneath the headline of what appears to be a legitimate news story.
“Tennessee Senate BANS ‘Chemtrail’ Geo-Engineering,” reads the headline of the article published March 21 by Infowars.
It received more than 800 likes in three days. Similar versions accumulated hundreds of additional likes.
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Our rating: Partly false
The Tennessee Senate did take action on this topic, but the post overstates the impact. The legislative body passed a bill that would prohibit some forms of emissions linked to the baseless “chemtrails” conspiracy theory, but as of March 25 that hadn’t been passed by the House or signed into law, which would have to happen before any “ban” takes effect. The headline comes from a website that regularly publishes false information.
Bill the result of ‘another misinformation meme’
The Instagram post refers to a bill sponsored by two Tennessee Republicans. Senate Bill 2691/House Bill 2063 would prohibit the “intentional injection, release or dispersion, by any means” of chemicals into the atmosphere with the purpose of affecting temperature, weather or sunlight intensity, effective July 1. It passed the Senate March 18 by a 25 to 6 vote.
Fact check: No evidence of negative health effects from airplane contrails
But the Instagram post overstates what that vote accomplished. It did not put a ban into place, and that legislative body by itself does not have the power to enact one. Rather, its vote sent the legislation to a House committee, with the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee scheduled to discuss the measure March 27.
The text of the bill includes a claim that it is “documented” that the federal government or other groups acting on its behalf may intentionally disperse chemicals into the atmosphere as part of geoengineering experiments. Neither sponsor of the measure responded to requests for comment from USA TODAY.
The “chemtrails” conspiracy theory claims contrails – the white streaks of condensed water vapor in the sky that trail the path of an airborne aircraft or rocket – actually are chemical or biological agents released as part of covert operations. Experts say it lacks any credibility. Claims purporting to prove “chemtrails” are real have been repeatedly debunked by USA TODAY and other fact-checkers.
While the legislation does not include the specific term “chemtrails,” its language leaves little doubt about its intent, said Michael McKinney, the director of environmental studies at the University of Tennessee.
“The wording is so specific that I don’t see any other way to interpret it,” McKinney told USA TODAY in an email. “It appears to be the product of yet another misinformation meme that gets woven into unproductive and distracting legislation.”
New Hampshire lawmakers introduced a similar bill in January that spawned a false claim debunked by USA TODAY that the state had banned “chemtrails.” Other disproven claims linked to that conspiracy theory include assertions that vaccines can be spread in them.
USA TODAY also has debunked several false claims originating from Infowars and site owner Alex Jones, including assertions that Walter Reed Army Military Center was trying to kill former President Donald Trump and that Vitamin K shots for newborns are poisonous.
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post and to Infowars but did not immediately receive responses.
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