As multiple states reel from recent flash-flood disasters, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said people have questions about "geoengineering and contrails" and that his agency has answers.
The EPA released new online resources Thursday in an effort to promote transparency and address public questions and concerns about weather modification technologies.
"Americans have questions about geoengineering and contrails," Zeldin said in a Thursday post on X. "They expect honesty and transparency from their government when seeking answers. For years, people who asked questions in good faith were dismissed, even vilified by the media and their own government. This ends today."
According to the EPA, the new resources were created "to communicate everything the agency knows about the latest science, research and other information regarding contrails and geoengineering."
The online resource on aerial condensation trails, or "contrails," explains the science and seeks to dispel myths and misconceptions about the phenomenon. The webpage also addresses claims that contrails are a deliberate release of biological agents or hazardous chemicals "for a variety of nefarious purposes, including population control, mind control, or attempts to geoengineer Earth or modify the weather."
The EPA also created a new online resource that focuses on solar geoengineering activities, which reflect sunlight back into space to lower the Earth's temperature, usually by injecting gases that form reflective particles into the upper layers of the atmosphere.
"EPA shares the significant reservations many Americans have when it comes to geoengineering activities," Zeldin said in a statement.
The resource explores the potential negative impacts of geoengineering, including altering weather patterns, depleting the ozone layer, creating acid rain, and damaging crops.
Weather modification and cloud seeding also are covered in the new resource, along with related federal and state government actions. Additionally, it details steps taken by the EPA to identify and track private actors engaged in such activities.
Zeldin's comments, and the EPA's release of the new resources, come as explosive conspiracy theories surge online over the potential role that cloud seeding may have played in the recent flash-flood disasters in Texas, New Mexico and Illinois.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Saturday announced plans to introduce a bill that would criminalize weather modification.
"I am introducing a bill that prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity," Greene wrote on X. "It will be a felony offense.
"I have been researching weather modification and working with the legislative counsel for months writing this bill. We must end the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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