UPDATE: More GOP State Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Ban ‘Chemtrails’
Last year, Republican lawmakers in several states introduced bills that would ban weather modification activities, and the language of the bill echoes language used by conspiracy theorists to describe so-called “chemtrails.”
Radical Reports previously reported that GOP state lawmakers had introduced a dozen bills to ban “chemtrails,” in states including Arizona, Connecticut. Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas.
Mississippi GOP state Sen. Angela Burks Hill’s bill specifically states that the legislation is intended to “prohibit chemtrails,” and Kentucky state Sen. Steve Rawlings’ bill was introduced after a supporter asked him to “reinstate the chemtrails bill,” and Rawling replied that “it’s on the agenda!”
Radical Reports has identified an additional eight bills introduced in by GOP state lawmakers in Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming. GOP state lawmakers have now introduced at least 22 bills in 13 states that would ban “chemtrails.”
In Mississippi, in addition to Sen. Hill’s bill, GOP state Sen. Andy Berry has introduced SB 1203, which would prohibit “all instances of geoengineering” in the state; and GOP state Rep. Carolyn Crawford has introduced HB 788, which would ban the injection of chemicals “into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight.”
New Hampshire GOP state Rep. Kelley Potenza has introduced HB 764, known as the “The Clean Atmosphere Preservation Act,” the legislation would prohibit anyone from engaging in “geoengineering activities, including weather modification, stratospheric aerosol injection, or solar radiation modification involving the intentional release of polluting emissions.”
In North Dakota, in addition to state Sen. Todd Beard’s bill, GOP state Rep. Desiree Morton has introduced HB 1514 has introduced which would prohibit anyone from engaging in a “polluting atmospheric activity or use an unmarked or unidentified aircraft, vehicle, or facility for weather engineering, cloud seeding, stratospheric aerosol injection, or other atmospheric activity that is harmful to a human or the environment, including the production of excessive electromagnetic radiation.”
In Oklahoma, in addition to state Sen. Kendal Sacchieri’s bill, GOP state Sen. Shane Jett has introduced SB 1021 and and GOP state Rep. Brad Boles has introduced HB 1429, and both bills use similar language to prohibit the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of sunlight.”
However, Sen. Jett’s bill includes a section that would allow the state’s governor to “direct the Oklahoma Air National Guard to interdict, document identification tail numbers, secure photographic evidence, sample aerosolized effluents or particulate, utilize mass spectrometers and other appropriate scientific instrumentation, and engage with aircraft violating this section to escort them to the nearest airport for investigation, securing of evidence, and documentation of violation.”
Utah GOP state Sen. Ronald Winterton has introduced SB 126, which prohibits the “operator of an aircraft to use or authorize the use of the aircraft in this state with the intent to cause weather geoengineering,” and requires the Utah Department of Transportation to “report credible instances of suspected weather geoengineering to the Utah Attorney General.”
Winterton told Utah Political Watch that “vapor trails are different from chemtrails. And that is what we are targeting,” and said that the bill was in response to his constituents. “On days that you have blue skies, especially away from the cities, it’s very evident what is going on,” Winterton said.
Wyoming GOP state Rep. Reuben Tarver has introduced HB 208, which prohibits anyone from “intentionally inject, release or disperse by any means any chemicals, chemical compounds, apparatus or other substances within Wyoming into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting or changing temperature, weather or the intensity of the sunlight.”
Conspiracy theorists claim condensation trails or vapor trails left in the sky from aircraft flying at high altitudes are actually some form of chemical or biological agents, which are being purposely released into the atmosphere for nefarious purposes including weather modification, phycological operations, or even population control.
Recently, adherents of the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory have made claims that the purpose of the contrails is connected to a global conspiracy to use geoengineering technology to change the climate. While there are various types of geoengineering technologies that are being develop for climate change mitigation, none of the claims made by the supporters of the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory are based in reality.
Geoengineering, which is a legitimate area of scientific research and study into various types of technologies that could be used to mitigate the effects of climate change, is used by conspiracy theorist as a euphemism for what they claim is the purposeful creation of “chemtrails.”
The language in these bills often appears similar to model legislation created and promoted by fringe conspiracy theorists, and connected to group which operates a website that claims to advocate for “shutting down pollution-generating atmospheric modification schemes”: Zero Geoengineering— which highlighted and promoted the bills introduce in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
