Florida Republican seeks ban on 'weather modification' tech amid right-wing conspiracies

A Florida state senator is introducing a bill to ban "weather modification" technology, The Independent reported Monday.

The proposed legislation, by Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia, says that “the injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather, or the intensity of sunlight is prohibited.”

The bill is referring to stratospheric aerosol injection, a proposed "geoengineering" technology to counteract the effects of global warming by dispersing small amounts of reflective chemicals at high altitudes, to alter how much sunlight the earth absorbs and reducing temperatures. A similar effect on the atmosphere is observed from large volcanic eruptions.

This proposal, which has a number of variants in terms of what chemicals to use or how to disperse them, is controversial and, at present, completely hypothetical.

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However, the existence of the idea has fed into long-running conspiracy theories prevalent online that contrails — the condensed trails of water vapor that form behind jet aircraft in certain weather conditions — are a chemical spray used by the government for sinister purposes, like weather — or even mind — control.

The most notorious weather conspiracy theory in recent years was popularized by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who suggested that a Jewish space laser could have ignited wildfires across the American West. She has since sought to disavow and downplay her promotion of this.

Garcia was notably elected as the result of a "ghost candidate" scheme, where Republican operatives illegally paid someone with the same last name as former Democratic state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez to run a fake campaign for the same seat, splitting the vote just enough to unseat him in favor of the GOP. That scheme ultimately led to several investigations and criminal prosecutions.