The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing everything it knows about weather modification and geoengineering after reports surfaced that cloud seeding occurred in Texas just days before a deadly flood.
“Concerned Americans have urgent and important questions about geoengineering and contrails,” Lee Zeldin, Director of the EPA, said in a video on X. “The American public deserves and expects honesty and transparency from their government when seeking answers. But for years, people who asked questions in good faith were dismissed, even vilified by the media and their own government. That era is over.”
The move was welcomed by several in President Trump’s administration. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. commended the action, framing it as a breakthrough in exposing harmful environmental practices that had been long ignored or hidden by federal agencies.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is introducing a bill to stop weather modification and geoengineering, tweeted the video of Zeldin’s announcement and wrote, “Thank you Secretary Zeldin!”
Despite this praise, the EPA’s announcement focused on launching a new series of webpages addressing public concerns about contrails and geoengineering. The agency reiterated that, while certain chemicals may be sprayed from aircraft for purposes such as firefighting or agricultural work, the federal government is not aware of any program where contrails have been deliberately produced for weather modification or geoengineering purposes.
The EPA’s updated guidance also addressed the commonly used term “chemtrails,” which it described as a mischaracterization of normal contrails left by airplanes. The agency clarified that no evidence supports the notion that such trails are used for harmful purposes, such as population control or climate engineering.
On its geoengineering FAQ page, the EPA stated that the U.S. government is not involved in outdoor solar geoengineering testing or in deploying these technologies at scale. The agency acknowledged that one private company, Make Sunsets, has conducted such activities, but said it remains the only known entity doing so in the U.S.
Dane Wigington of GeoengineeringWatch criticized Zeldin’s announcement, accusing him of attempting to control public perception while downplaying the scope of current weather manipulation. Wigington questioned the EPA’s sincerity in its promise of transparency, comparing it to past failures to release sensitive government information.
Nicole Shanahan, who served as Kennedy’s running mate during his 2024 presidential campaign, shared a report on X entitled “The Dark Maha Report on Geoengineering.” The report includes documentation that claims millions of federal dollars have been awarded to universities to fund research on geoengineering and solar radiation. It also alleges that U.S. weather modification programs date back to the 1960s.
According to Shanahan, the information came from a whistleblower with experience advising multiple federal agencies. She is calling for an executive order to ban geoengineering, a congressional investigation into existing research, and a constitutional amendment affirming Americans’ right to weather that has not been artificially altered.
Geoengineering and weather modification programs are not new. Despite official denials, researchers and governments have been exploring and testing these technologies for decades. Climate geoengineering, in particular, is viewed by some experts as a necessary option for addressing climate change, while others argue the risks far outweigh any potential benefit.
One leading figure in the field is David Keith, Ph.D., formerly of Harvard and now at the University of Chicago. Keith has promoted solar geoengineering and launched a company backed by billionaire investors, including Bill Gates, to develop and potentially deploy these technologies.
In 2022, the Biden administration unveiled a five-year research plan to explore methods for reducing the amount of sunlight reaching Earth. The plan included strategies such as marine cloud brightening, cirrus cloud thinning, and stratospheric aerosol injection. The European Union followed suit in 2023 by commissioning a risk assessment of geoengineering and exploring regulatory approaches to its potential use.
Geoengineering efforts have also been tested at the local level. Last year, authorities in Alameda, California, shut down an unapproved project that involved spraying sea particles into the atmosphere. Similar methods have been used internationally. China has openly employed weather control for major public events since 2008 and continues to expand those capabilities.
In the United States, cloud seeding programs are active in numerous states. The process involves dispersing silver iodide into clouds to encourage rainfall and is used primarily to combat drought conditions. States with ongoing or planned cloud seeding initiatives include California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, Utah, and Idaho.
Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth have warned about the unknown consequences of weather modification. They argue that these experiments often lack scientific consensus and carry the risk of unintended outcomes, such as ecosystem disruption or atmospheric instability. The group also criticized the irreversible nature of many geoengineering interventions.
One of David Keith’s proposed experiments was ultimately canceled at Harvard following pushback from scientists and indigenous groups. After the backlash, Keith stated he would no longer publicly disclose the details of his future experiments.
Criticism of geoengineering is not limited to one side of the political spectrum. In April, the Florida Legislature passed a bill that makes it a criminal offense to release chemicals into the atmosphere to alter the weather or climate. Under the new law, individuals and corporations can face substantial financial penalties, and pilots involved in such releases may face imprisonment. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection has been directed to investigate reports of geoengineering and share its findings with relevant agencies.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure into law in June.
Florida is not alone. Tennessee enacted similar legislation last year, and lawmakers in Kentucky, Arizona, and Iowa have introduced comparable bills. Alabama also held a legislative hearing on the issue earlier this year. Reports indicate that at least two dozen states have proposed measures to restrict or ban geoengineering activities.
Kennedy has publicly stated that, under his leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services will take steps to combat geoengineering.
Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets continue to downplay the issue. These same outlets often portray efforts to regulate geoengineering as fueled by conspiracy theories, even as they report on actual experiments that are already being carried out to alter weather or manipulate the climate.
