FL Bill To Ban ‘Weather Modification’ Filed By GOP Senator

FLORIDA — Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia of Miami has filed a bill that would ban “weather modification activities” in Florida.

Senate Bill 56 prohibits “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 legislation, if passed, would repeal about a dozen provisions to Florida statutes related to state-licensed weather modification. This includes cloud-seeding to cause rain and the blockage of any future innovations in the field.

Garcia wrote in a statement shared to social media that “the bill repeals outdated provisions related to the weather modification law, including definitions, licensing requirements, and the processes for applying for and issuing licenses.”

The bill specifically targets “Actions intended to influence temperature, weather patterns, or sunlight intensity within our state’s atmosphere,” she added.

The legislation stems from Garcia’s belief in the chemtrails conspiracy theory, Florida Politics said. According to the debunked theory, contrails — white lines of condensed water vapor left behind in the sky by jets — are toxic chemicals that, among other things, are used to alter weather.

Some conspiracy theorists claims that Hurricanes Milton and Helene were chemically manipulated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has debunked claims that anyone can control hurricanes, Newsweek reported.

Garcia also reposted a tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, that suggested her bill had been introduced as part of the wider conspiracy theory.

The theory gained enough traction that in 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency joined with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a report debunking the chemtrails theory, the Tallahassee Democrat said. Other agencies, including the U.S. Air Force, issued their own fact sheets explaining what contrails were.

"No technology exists that can create, destroy, modify, strengthen or steer hurricanes in any way, shape or form," NOAA said.

Garcia founded Latinas for Trump in 2016 and became the president-elect's campaign communications director for Latino outreach during that election cycle, the newspaper reported. During Trump's first term in office, Garcia became the first Hispanic female deputy press secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.