Rhode Island 2023 Regular Session

Rhode Island House Bill H5866 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version Filed 03/01/2023

                             
 
 
 
2023 -- H 5866 
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LC001464 
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S TATE  OF RHODE IS LAND 
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023 
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A N   A C T 
RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- THE ATMOSPHERE PROTECTIO N ACT 
Introduced By: Representatives Quattrocchi, Place, Chippendale, Rea, and Nardone 
Date Introduced: March 01, 2023 
Referred To: House Environment and Natural Resources 
 
 
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: 
SECTION 1. Title 23 of the General Laws entitled "HEALTH AND SAFETY" is hereby 1 
amended by adding thereto the following chapter: 2 
CHAPTER 99 3 
THE ATMOSPHERE PROTECTION ACT 4 
23-99-1. Short title.     5 
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as “The Atmosphere Protection Act.” 6 
23-99-2. Legislative intent.     7 
(a) To preserve the safe, healthful, resilient and peaceful uses of Rhode Island’s atmosphere 8 
for people, the environment, and agriculture, and to improve climate efforts, by prohibiting 9 
hazardous atmospheric polluting activities, providing enforcement and penalties for violative 10 
activity. 11 
(b) The assembly finds that many atmospheric activities involving the intentional release 12 
of hazardous emissions harm human health and safety, the environment, agriculture, aviation, 13 
security, and the economy of the State of Rhode Island. 14 
(c) It is, therefore, the intention of the general assembly to prohibit deliberate polluting 15 
activities in Rhode Island's atmosphere and at ground level, as further set forth by the terms and 16 
provisions of this chapter. 17 
23-99-3. Legislative findings.     18 
(1) Scope. Inclusive of stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), solar radiation management 19   
 
 
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(SRM), weather modification, cloud-seeding, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and other 1 
techniques, hazardous atmospheric activities are diverse, varying greatly in their characteristics and 2 
consequences. Included herein are anthropogenic, intentionally polluting atmospheric activities, 3 
and may involve ground-based, underwater, and/or atmosphere-based activities, including, without 4 
limitation, aerosol injection, and other deployments by facilities such as aircraft, rockets, unmanned 5 
aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones of all sizes down to pico, large balloons, wireless infrastructures, 6 
ships and/or submarines. 7 
(2) Scope of regulatory authority. Aerosol injection, cloud-seeding, weather modification, 8 
geoengineering and other hazardous atmospheric activities, purposed to intentionally pollute and/or 9 
manipulate the environment, are hereby prohibited within or above the State of Rhode Island. 10 
(3) SRM activities include, without limitation: 11 
(i) Atmospheric sunscreens or solar shields: Known-to-be toxic reflective materials are 12 
injected into the stratosphere. These include, without limitation, sulfur dioxide (SO2), sulfuric acid 13 
(H2- SO4) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3). 14 
(ii) Carbon black or black carbon releases: Deliberate, atmospheric releases of soot are 15 
used to produce artificial weather events. In particular, aerosolized coal combustion fly ash liberates 16 
dispersed aluminum, which, when absorbed into human and other bodies, is a primary factor in the 17 
pronounced increase in neurological diseases and the widespread debilitation of Earth’s biota. 18 
(iii) Rocket emissions: Entirely unregulated, these include, without limitation, black carbon 19 
soot and alumina particles in addition to carbon monoxide (CO), chlorine, sulfuric compounds, 20 
methane, and water vapor, a “greenhouse gas,” blocking sunlight and reflecting terrestrial heat; 21 
(iv) Cloud brightening: Sodium chloride (NaCl) or sea salt, seawater, nitric acid (HNO3), 22 
and/or other materials injected into clouds make the clouds more reflective, after which the salt and 23 
other materials rain out over land areas contaminating freshwater supplies. 24 
(v) Salt flare rockets: Fired into clouds, these rockets trigger rain downpours containing 25 
salt, which contaminates freshwater supplies, desiccates surfaces, and makes the atmosphere and 26 
exposed biota, including humans, more conductive; 27 
(vi) Cloud-seeding releases of Silver Iodide (AgI) and/or solid dry ice (a registered 28 
pesticide), which is carbon dioxide (CO2), the latter increasing carbon levels that state policies 29 
rather intend to decrease; 30 
(vii) Less direct sunlight reaching Earth’s surface, with fewer winter freezes and higher 31 
humidity, resulting in increased molds, mildews, fungi, and other pathogens and pests that develop 32 
from such conditions – with human, animal, pollinating insect, and plant diseases resulting 33 
therefrom; 34   
 
 
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(viii) Increases in acid rain loads from the airborne injection or releases of sulfur and 1 
aluminum oxides, with human, animal, plant, and water-resource degradation; 2 
(ix) Changes in distribution patterns and chemical contents of rainfall, resulting in floods 3 
and droughts; 4 
(x) Algal blooms, with impacts upon human health, aquatic systems, and economies; 5 
(xi) The near-impossibility of restoring devalued natural resources, with the undermining 6 
and waste of state-funded conservation programs; 7 
(xii) The potential, through radiative forcing, to reflect too much heat back to Earth, or to 8 
produce excessive cold by reflecting too much cosmic energy away from Earth, and to bring about 9 
feedback loops creating weather extremes. 10 
(xiii) Increased ultraviolet (UV) radiation (including UVA, UVB, and UVC) at Earth's 11 
surface: UV is strongly absorbed by organic materials such as living tissues, with UVC’s high 12 
energy and small wavelength particularly capable of destroying DNA and reproduction; 13 
(xiv) Increased combustibility of Earth’s terrestrial surfaces, by means of fallen 14 
particulates, some pyrophoric and/or desiccating, with increased incidence of fires; 15 
(xv) Significant increases in ambient mechanical vibration and noise pollution, leading to, 16 
without limitation, increased incidence of nervous system and cardiac irregularities; 17 
(xvi) Increased metals content in surface-dwelling and aquatic organisms, producing 18 
heightened bodily electrical conductivity and radiation absorption, with more susceptibilities and 19 
damages; particularly where atmospheric electrical charges are naturally or otherwise intensified; 20 
(xvii) Extreme harm to vulnerable human subpopulations and to the more vulnerable 21 
species such as bees and other pollinators; 22 
(xviii) Significant changes to Earth’s atmosphere’s electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic 23 
properties through the induction of high-intensity, decimeter-, centimeter-, and millimeter-wave 24 
microwave radiation from increasingly densified wireless facilities, terrestrial and atmospheric, 25 
resulting in extreme and less predictable weather, the desiccation of humans, animals, insects and 26 
plants; blood-cell clumping (Rouleaux formation), blood-clotting increase, and blood-oxygen 27 
deprivation in humans and animals; diabetes and asthma increase in humans and animals; and the 28 
reduction and ultimate eradication of animal and insect populations, particularly pollinators 29 
dependent for navigation upon geomagnetism; 30 
(xix) Visibility impairment and clutter, reducing aviation safety and accelerating collision 31 
rates with satellites, balloons and nearly one million “space-junk” or “space-debris” particles; 32 
(xx) RF/MW radiation interference from exponentially increasing numbers of microwave-33 
irradiating satellites interacting with ground based infrastructure potentially costing the public 34   
 
 
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billions of dollars; 1 
(xxi) Per the William & Mary Law Review, the enabling of the Internet of Bodies (IoB), a 2 
“mesh” or grid through which every human and most animals would contain worn, ingested, 3 
inhaled, and/or injected chips or sensors of micro to pico size with transmitting antennas, with every 4 
body functioning as an internet node with thousands of internal datapoints, toward complete 5 
warrantless surveillance and control, even by foreign entities, with constant biometric data 6 
collection and loss of autonomy under an overarching Artificial Intelligence, in violation of the 7 
U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment as well as the Rhode Island State Constitution’s Article I, 8 
§7. 9 
(xxii) Vulnerability of communications signals from the potential for solar flare alteration 10 
or demolition of space-based solar power systems. 11 
(xxiii) Electrical grid is vulnerable to attack through the hackability of the “smart” grid and 12 
“smart” devices; Intense microwave radiation spikes transmitted from the “smart” grid, inclusive 13 
of “smart” meters, could spark fires, in addition to harming health and the environment. 14 
(xxiv) Increasing incidence of dementias, learning impairments, cardiovascular and 15 
respiratory diseases, diabetes, autoimmunity, birth defects, infertility, cancers, and early death in 16 
humans; and increasing impairment, disease, debility and early death likewise in other living 17 
beings. 18 
(xxv) Mass psychological and social changes by means of lithium and other psychoactive 19 
substances’ releases; 20 
(xxvi) Increased damage to the ozone layer; 21 
(xxvii) Carbon capture and sequestration programs redistribute pollution, storing it 22 
underground instead of stopping the pollution before it exits the smokestack; 23 
(xxviii) Economic losses to various sectors of society and to the state itself, resulting from, 24 
without limitation, human health damages, with productivity loss, increased and earlier health-care 25 
needs, and heightened suffering for those injured and/or sensitized by prior hazardous exposures; 26 
(xxiv) Contaminated soils and water supplies, loss of pollinators such as bees, butterflies 27 
and birds, decreased crop yields, dead and dying forests, loss of habitats, decline of fisheries, rising 28 
pollution cleanup costs, and less solar power production from lack of sunlight reaching Earth's sur- 29 
face; 30 
(xxx) The potential and ease for enemies, foreign and domestic, to cause harm 31 
intentionally; 32 
(A) Necessity arising from federal stance. 33 
(I) States’ “rights”, including their authorities, are correctly exerted where federal 34   
 
 
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restrictions have become oppressive or destructive. 1 
(II) In view of these facts, the general assembly declares that all hazardous atmospheric 2 
activities such as aerosol injection, cloud-seeding, weather modification and other forms of geo- 3 
engineering, must be prohibited in order to prevent the intentional release of harmful polluting 4 
emissions, with penalties and enforcement provided for violative activity. 5 
23-99-4. Definitions.     6 
For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 7 
(1) “Albedo” means the fraction of incident radiation, such as light and heat, reflected by 8 
a natural cloud or by materials injected into the atmosphere. 9 
(2) "Area" means a portion within the confines of the state or its territorial waters, including 10 
the atmosphere above the state. 11 
(3) "Artificial intelligence" or “AI” means and refers to systems or machines that mimic 12 
human intelligence to perform tasks and can iteratively improve themselves based on the 13 
information they collect. AI manifests in a number of forms. 14 
(4) "Atmospheric activity" means any deliberate polluting activity conducted by any 15 
iteration of human, machine learning, or artificial intelligence (AI) or any combination thereof, that 16 
occurs in the atmosphere and may have harmful consequences upon health, the environment and/or 17 
agriculture. 18 
(5) "Atmospheric contaminant" means any type of aerosol, biologic and/or transbiologic 19 
agent, chaff, genetically modified agent, metal, radioactive material, vapor, particulate down to or 20 
less than one nanometer in diameter, and any air pollutant regulated by the state, including without 21 
limitation those deemed "unnecessary" pursuant to the general laws, any xenobiotic (foreign-to- 22 
life) electromagnetic radiation and fields, mechanical vibration and other physical agents, or any 23 
combination of these contaminants. 24 
(6) "Chaff" means aluminum-coated silica glass fibers typically dispersed in bundles 25 
containing five million (5,000,000) to one hundred million (100,000,000) inhalable fibers, which 26 
fall to ground in about one day, or for nanochaff, years, and then fall and break apart; while 27 
purposed to confuse foreign radars and satellite vision, chaff can cause power outages and interfere 28 
with air-traffic control; 29 
(7) "Department" means the Rhode Island department of environmental management 30 
(DEM). 31 
(8) “Director” means the director of the department of environmental management (DEM). 32 
(9) “Entity" means any of the following: individual; trust; firm; joint stock company; 33 
corporation, including a quasi-governmental corporation; non-governmental organization (NGO), 34   
 
 
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partnership; association; syndicate; municipality or state or municipal agency; program; fire 1 
district; club; nonprofit agency; commission; university or college in this state; department or 2 
agency of the state, the federal government, or any interstate or international governance or 3 
instrumentality thereof, including foreign, domestic and mercenary armed services; or region 4 
within the United States. 5 
(10) "Geoengineering" means the intentional manipulation of the environment, involving 6 
nuclear, biological, transbiological, chemical, electromagnetic and/or other physical-agent 7 
contaminants that effect changes to Earth's atmosphere and/or surface; and is inclusive of weather 8 
modification, aerosol injection, or cloud-seeding. 9 
(11) “Hazard” means a substance or physical agent by its nature harmful to living 10 
organisms, generally, and/or to property or another interest of value. 11 
(12) “Individual” means any man, woman or child. 12 
(13) "Machine learning" means the process relative to AI, in which a machine can learn on 13 
its own without being explicitly programmed. 14 
(14) “Physical agent ” means an agent other than a substance, including, without limitation, 15 
radiofrequency/microwave and other electromagnetic radiation and fields, barometric pressure, 16 
temperature, gravity, kinetic weaponry, mechanical vibration and sound. 17 
(15) ”Radiative forcing” means measures of heat energy coming from the sun and reflected 18 
back to space, as opposed to measures of terrestrial heat energy, reflected back to Earth’s surface. 19 
(16) "Release" means any activity that results in the issuance of contaminants such as the 20 
emitting, transmitting, discharging or injecting of one or more nuclear, biological, trans-biological, 21 
chemical, and/or physical agents into the ambient atmosphere; whether once, intermittently, or 22 
continuously. 23 
(17) “Stratosphere” means the region of the upper atmosphere extending upward from the 24 
edge of the troposphere to about thirty (30) miles fifty kilometers (50 km) above the Earth. 25 
(18) “Troposphere” means the region of the lowest layer of the atmosphere, six (6) to 26 
twelve (12) miles high in altitude, wherein temperature steadily drops with increasing altitude and 27 
nearly all cloud formations occur and weather conditions manifest. 28 
(19) “Weather modification” means the changing, controlling, or interfering with; or 29 
attempting to change, control, or interfere with; the natural development of cloud forms, 30 
precipitation, barometric pressure, temperature, conductivity and/or other electromagnetic or sonic 31 
characteristics of the atmosphere. 32 
23-99-5. Regulation by the state.     33 
(a) Given officials’ obligation to promote the safety of life and property, and due to the 34   
 
 
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lack of state security and potential for significant harm, all state climate-related appointees shall 1 
be, or have been, administered the state oath of office and shall fulfill the obligations thereunder to 2 
protect the state and federal constitutions and Rhode Island constituents, requiring appointees’ 3 
direct responsiveness to constituents and not to foreign or out-of-state entities. 4 
(b) The department shall refer potential violations as reported by state agencies or members 5 
of the public to the emergency management protection agency, as set forth in this chapter. 6 
(c) There is hereby created a health-and-environment protection trust fund into which shall 7 
be deposited violation fines under this chapter. 8 
(d) The department is authorized to and shall implement this chapter, determining when 9 
violations have occurred and referring them to compliance authorities. 10 
23-99-6. Violative activity.     11 
(a) The director shall immediately issue a cease-and-desist order upon the discovery of a 12 
potentially hazardous atmospheric activity, where an agency, department, office, program, or 13 
member of the public produces evidence to the department that the atmospheric activity may be 14 
occurring that involves intentional release of a hazardous emission. 15 
(b) The cease-and-desist order under subsection (a) of this section, shall have the weight 16 
of a court order and any violation shall be punished under law. 17 
23-99-7. Departmental notice to cease federal or foreign-approved programs.     18 
(a) Where an activity that the department has deemed hazardous has been approved, 19 
explicitly or implicitly, by the federal government, the department shall issue a notice to the 20 
appropriate federal authority or agency that the hazardous activity cannot lawfully be carried out 21 
within or over the State of Rhode Island, pursuant to the tenth amendment of the United States 22 
Constitution. 23 
(b) Government and armed forces projects operating within or above the State of Rhode 24 
Island shall meet all the requirements of this chapter. 25 
23-99-8. Penalties and enforcement.     26 
An entity or individual who engages in an activity under this chapter or person who uses 27 
an unmarked or unidentified aircraft or other vehicle or facility to carry out a hazardous atmospheric 28 
activity involving intentional pollution or who fails to comply with the regulations set forth: 29 
(1) Has committed a felony and shall pay a fine of not less than five hundred thousand 30 
dollars ($500,000) or be imprisoned for not less than three (3) years, or both; 31 
(2) Shall be guilty of a separate offense for each day during which violative activity has 32 
been conducted, repeated, or continued; and 33 
(3) Shall be deemed in violation, and subject to further penalties under any other applicable 34   
 
 
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state environmental protection laws. 1 
23-99-9. Public participation – Reporting.     2 
(a) The department shall encourage the public to monitor, measure, document and report 3 
present, potential and past incidents that may constitute cloud-seeding, weather modification, 4 
geoengineering or other intentional hazardous atmospheric polluting activities. 5 
(b) An individual who presents evidence of potentially harmful atmospheric activity under 6 
subsection (a) of this section, shall email or otherwise write and send any of the following to the 7 
director or to any state police office or public official: 8 
(1) Evidentiary photographs, each separately titled as an electronic or hard-copy document, 9 
with the respective location from which, and, if the content is from other than a measuring device, 10 
the direction in which, the photo was taken, with its time and date; 11 
(2) Independent precipitation analysis reports, photography, videography, audiography, 12 
microscopy, spectrometry, metering, and other forms of evidence shall similarly be submitted in 13 
writing to the director or to any state office, or any state public official; and 14 
(3) Videography of activity involving intentional release of hazardous emissions. 15 
(c) A public official who has received information under subsection (a) of this section, and 16 
has reason to suspect violative activity based on evidence presented by an agency or individual 17 
under subsection (b) of this section, shall, directly or through a designee, report in writing within 18 
twenty-four (24) hours all documentary and supportive evidence to the emergency management 19 
protection agency for enforcement. 20 
(d) A report to any state official of apparently harmful nuclear, biological, transbiological 21 
and/or chemical (“NBC”) emissions shall trigger investigation of the source(s) and contents of said 22 
emissions, without limitation. Spectrometry of air and rainwater and other testing may be used to 23 
determine specific contents of emissions. Where the emissions are harmful to humans or the 24 
environment, per primary scientific study, enforcement shall ensue pursuant to § 23-99-8. 25 
(e) A report to any state official of excessive electromagnetic radiation or fields, as defined 26 
in subsection (b) of this section in any part of the spectrum, including, without limitation, 27 
microwave or maser, infrared, light or laser, and ionizing radiation, or report of intense mechanical 28 
vibration, noise, or other physical agent, with evidence, including possible photographs, 29 
videography, audio recordings, measurements of the agents, or other detection, shall trigger 30 
immediately for attention within two (2) hours DEM emergency measurements of peaks and 31 
averages over time with the appropriate, calibrated meters and forensic, detection devices both at 32 
and near the reported location. Where professional metering and monitoring equipment is needed 33 
but not owned by the state, DEM personnel shall partner with academic institutions for investigative 34   
 
 
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activity, in order to provide evidentiary findings that would qualify under the Supreme Court 1 
Daubert Rule in judiciary contexts. 2 
23-99-10. Investigatory findings – Responses.     3 
As established in this chapter, manipulation of the environment involves the intentional 4 
release of hazardous polluting emissions. A finding of: 5 
(1) Any NBCs that are either xenobiotic and should not exist in the natural environment, 6 
or that are found at xenobiotic levels or levels beyond the legal limits of the state or federal 7 
government, shall trigger enforcement as follows, over all federal, state and corporate entities: 8 
(i) DEM’s immediate communication of the requirement of the owner and/or operator of 9 
each facility or infrastructure deploying or releasing the specific agent or agents, to produce records 10 
of all data collection on emissions of the extant operations of any site(s) at or near where xenobiotic 11 
agents or excessive levels are or have been detected, and convey said records to the department; 12 
(ii) DEM’s order to cease operations of the facilities or infrastructure(s) other than those 13 
operations needed for police, fire, emergency services, and aviation safety; and 14 
(iii) DEM’s evaluation within twenty-four (24) hours of the owner's and/or operator's 15 
performance in causing the cessation of all operations except those activities exempted under 16 
subsection (1)(ii) of this section. 17 
(2) Radiofrequency/ Microwave (RF/MW) radiation, including maser, of signal strength 18 
metered at and near the reported, publicly-accessible location in excess of -85 dBm (decibel-19 
milliwatt) for any frequency or channel band specified by a transmitting entity’s FCC transmission 20 
license; 21 
(3) Extreme-low-frequency alternating current (AC) electric fields in excess of one volt 22 
per meter (V/m);  23 
(4) Magnetic fields in excess of one milliGauss (mG); 24 
(5) Transients in the electrical wiring, also called "dirty electricity", which must be filtered 25 
for safety; 26 
(6) Ionizing radiation in excess of 0.02 milliSievert per hour (mSv/h); 27 
(7) Laser, Li-Vi, strobe, or other light with harmful effects; or 28 
(8) Any vibration, noise, saser, sonic weapon, or other physical agent exceeding other 29 
official limits, guidelines or standards, such as eCode360, shall trigger: 30 
(i) DEM‘s immediate communication of the requirement of the owner or operator of each 31 
antenna, or facility or infrastructure deploying excessively energy-demanding and/or public-32 
exposing transmissions, or other source of energy or vibration at or near the reported location, to 33 
produce records of all data collection on the extant operators at one or more sites near where 34   
 
 
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excessive xenobiotic electromagnetism and fields, mechanical vibration, or other physical agents 1 
are or have been detected, and to convey said records to the department within twenty-four (24) 2 
hours; 3 
(ii) DEM’s immediate communication of the requirement of the owner of the facility, or 4 
utility or other service equipment at or near the reported location to provide within one business 5 
day all data collection records up to that date and time of electrical usage at or near the reported 6 
location. 7 
(iii) DEM’s order to cease operations of all antennas on, and other deployments of energy 8 
or vibration emitted from, the measured structure or facility, other than the operations needed for 9 
police, fire, emergency services, and aviation safety; 10 
(iv) DEM’s evaluation within twenty-four (24) hours of the owner's or operator's 11 
performance in causing the cessation of all operations except those activities exempted under 12 
subsection (8)(iii) of this section; and 13 
(v) Emergency management preparedness agency referral of potential criminal activity to 14 
the judiciary for prosecution. 15 
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. 16 
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EXPLANATION 
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 
OF 
A N   A C T 
RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- THE ATMOSPHERE PROTE CTION ACT 
***
This act would prohibit the intentional release of hazardous polluting emissions into the 1 
atmosphere and provide for a natural climate while increasing resiliency by prohibiting deliberate 2 
atmospheric pollution and manipulation of the environment. Violation fees would be collected and 3 
placed into a trust fund for municipal-level allocation for projects that promote the safety of life 4 
and property as well as environmental and agricultural health free from hazardous atmospheric 5 
activities. 6 
This act would take effect upon passage. 7 
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