Florida prepares to ban aircraft chemtrails

New bill proposes five-year prison term or USD 100,000 fine for blocking the sun in the Sunshine State.

New bill proposes five-year prison term or USD 100,000 fine for blocking the sun in the Sunshine State.

In a nod to one of the more outlandish conspiracy theories to be found amid the eccentric reaches of cyberspace, Florida is on track to become the second US state to ban chemtrails – condensation trails from aircraft that some people believe are laden with chemical or biological agents to control the weather or even people’s minds. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis backs the legislation — but not conspiracy theories about mind control, it should be noted – and, if signed into law, Florida would follow Tennessee in prohibiting geoengineering experiments aimed at modifying the weather and reducing the impact of climate change.

PRISON AND FINES

The bill that has passed the state Senate prohibits the “injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance or apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of Florida for the express purposes of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight”, with those caught attempting to alter the weather facing third-degree felony charges that carry a five-year prison sentence and fines of up to USD 100,000.

“People have a lot of kooky ideas that they can get in and put things in the atmosphere to block the sun and save us from climate change,” Mr DeSantis said in a statement, explaining his support for the measure. “We’re not playing that game in Florida.”

“NOT IN FLORIDA!”

Environmentalists have long proposed bioengineering hacks to dim the sun to stop global warming. The US Environmental Protection Agency is investigating a company using hot air balloons to inject sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, calling it “sunscreen for the Earth”, while earlier this month the UK government announced that it will begin experimenting with outdoor geoengineering to reduce the threat of climate change by artificially cooling the planet. The experiment involves injecting particles into clouds to deflect the sun’s heat and radiation away from Earth’s surface, an initiative which prompted Republican State Senator Ileana Garcia, a sponsor of the anti-chemtrail bill, to comment pithily on social media: “Not in Florida!”.

The bill, once signed into law, would establish a government email hotline for those who believe they’ve spotted geoengineering activity in the state, while also requiring Florida’s public airports to report aircraft equipped with devices that can release air contaminants into the atmosphere to change the climate.

Since the bill was announced, Mr DeSantis and Florida’s legislature more generally have been widely criticised – and even mocked – for indulging conspiracy theorists who believe that high-altitude contrails left by passenger jets are actually dangerous chemicals spewed by aircraft controlled by villains that can cause disease and even lead to mind control when they are, in fact, water vapour. One critic who has gone on record is Amy Clement, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and president of American Geophysical Union’s atmospheric sciences division. While conceding that chemtrails can have a “negligible” impact on atmospheric temperatures, she explained: “Emissions that happen in one part of the atmosphere of greenhouse gasses, impact the entire global planet. Some of the geoengineering efforts being discussed are at that scale, like injecting aerosols into the stratosphere, they actually get spread very efficiently around the entire globe.”

DIMMING THE SUN

Despite the totally unfounded conspiracy theories surrounding chemtrails, some eminent individuals support them. During a hearing on the measure last month, some witnesses testified that aircraft are already dumping nanoparticles of silver iodide, silver dioxide, aluminium, barium, strontium, cadmium, polymers and micro plastics into the air over Florida in an attempt to alter the environment. One such witness was retired judge Bradford Thomas, who told the hearing: “There is no question these are not jet aircraft flying commercial flights. These are airplanes flying and injecting aerosols into the sky in an attempt to dim the sun.”

State Republican Kevin Steele, another sponsor of the measure, testified that chemtrails related to cloud-seeding are proven to exist. He stated: “I’m against heavy metals being sprayed over our state on every level. Those heavy metals, we know scientifically, cause major health issues.”