Iowa House to address cloud seeding

One of the issues I’ve heard about a lot from constituents has to do with perceived, and real, concerns about weather engineering. House File 2173 is a bill that I’ve allowed to run through the Environmental Protection committee that I chair that deals with the real part of this issue.

I’ll address the real part of the issue, and the purpose of this bill first. In several states currently there are businesses engaging in cloud seeding, the practice of spreading silver iodide, potassium iodide, or dry ice into the air in order to cause precipitation. This practice is problematic in that it doesn’t increase the amount of moisture in the air. It simply changes where that moisture will fall as rain or snow.

Think of it as “rain stealing.” It might be a great thing if a dry area is able to initiate some much needed rain, but the area downwind is being cheated out of that rain.

Another real issue comes from upstart businesses like “Make Sunsets,” (Makesunsets.com). This business generates revenue from donations to generate “cooling credits” by sending up balloons filled with helium and sulfur dioxide and bursting them at high altitudes in order to disperse the sulfur dioxide in the air.

The sulfur dioxide will reflect sunlight back away from the earth, supposedly cooling the earth. For those of you that have lived long enough, you may remember lots of attention given to “acid rain” a few decades ago. Acid rain, rain containing sulfur dioxide and other acids spewed from industrial sources, was considered an environmental threat to our forests, water, etc. Lots of work went into reducing acid rain by implementing stricter regulations on power plants and vehicles.

The idea that we are now faced with environmentalists deliberately releasing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere is mind boggling. While Make Sunsets may be too small of an endeavor to make a significant impact on the environment, it is imperative that we prevent this practice from growing.

Based on the numerous constituents that have contacted me about “chemtrails,” I must also address that issue. What many refer to as chemtrails in the sky, the trails left by passing jet aircraft, are simply “contrails,” condensation trails that are water vapor that occurs when cold moist air is run through a jet engine and warmed by the combustion of the engine.

After exiting the rear of the engine into the cold air again the moisture condenses, forming the long thin cloud like trails we all see when the weather conditions are right. It’s the same phenomena as when we see our breath on a cold winter day.

The trails are simply nothing more than that, water vapor, along with a bit of exhaust fumes from the jet engine of course. This has been occurring since the dawn of the jet age. It’s not chemicals sprayed from the aircraft.

This legislation, House File 2173, isn’t about contrails, or chemtrails. Those naturally occurring contrails will continue to occur whether this legislation passes or not.

House File 2173 passed a three-person House subcommittee chaired by Rep. Wengryn Thursday, Feb. 5. Both Republicans voted for the bill, the Democrat member voted against, apparently feeling comfortable with the idea of weather engineering and dispersion of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.

The bill is now eligible for consideration in the full House Environmental Protection Committee.

As always, I look forward to seeing you at the capitol, or in the district.