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H.217 1
Introduced by Representatives Burtt of Cabot, Branagan of Georgia, Coffin of 2
Cavendish, Cooper of Pownal, Dobrovich of Williamstown, 3
Goslant of Northfield, Harvey of Castleton, Higley of Lowell, 4
Lipsky of Stowe, Morgan, L. of Milton, Nelson of Derby, North 5
of Ferrisburgh, O’Brien of Tunbridge, Powers of Waterford, 6
Pritchard of Pawlet, Southworth of Walden, Sweeney of 7
Shelburne, Tagliavia of Corinth, Wells of Brownington, and 8
Winter of Ludlow 9
Referred to Committee on 10
Date: 11
Subject: Conservation and development; air pollution; geoengineering 12
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to prohibit the 13
use of solar radiation modification, cloud seeding, geoengineering, and other 14
polluting atmospheric experiments and interventions. It would require reports 15
of violations to be made to the Vermont State Police, sheriffs, or deputized 16
Vermont citizens to enforce the provisions. 17
An act relating to prohibiting geoengineering 18 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.217
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It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 1
Sec. 1. SHORT TITLE 2
This act may be cited as the “Vermont Clean Air Preservation Act.” 3
Sec. 2. 10 V.S.A. chapter 23A is added to read: 4
CHAPTER 23A. GEOENGINEERING 5
§ 587. DEFINITIONS 6
As used in this chapter: 7
(1) “Atmospheric activity” means any polluting experiment or 8
intervention conducted by any person, artificial intelligence, or any 9
combination thereof, that occurs in the atmosphere and may have harmful 10
consequences upon health, the environment, or agriculture. 11
(2) “Chaff” means aluminum-coated silica glass fibers typically 12
dispersed in bundles containing 5,000,000 to 100,000,000 inhalable fibers, 13
which fall to the ground in about one day, or for nano-chaff, years, and then 14
fall and break apart. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), 15
known also as “forever chemicals,” are an ingredient in chaff. 16
(3) “Cloud seeding” is a type of weather engineering or experimentation 17
that may change the amount or type of precipitation by dispersing chemicals or 18
chemical compounds such as dry ice (CO2), silver iodide (AgI), or Tri-methyl 19
aluminum (TMA) into the atmosphere by means of aircraft or ground 20
generators. 21 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.217
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(4) “Entity” means any of the following: individual; trust; firm; joint 1
stock company; corporation, including a quasigovernmental corporation; 2
nongovernmental organization; public or private partnership; association; 3
syndicate; municipality or municipal agency; program; fire district; club; 4
nonprofit agency; commission; university; college or academic institution; 5
State department or agency; the federal government or any interstate or 6
international governance or instrumentality thereof, including foreign, 7
domestic, and mercenary armed services or region within the United States; 8
and artificial intelligence. 9
(5) “Geoengineering” means the intentional large-scale alteration or 10
manipulation of the environment involving the release of aerosols, chemicals, 11
chemical compounds, electromagnetic radiation, or other physical agents that 12
increase air pollution and effect changes to the earth’s atmosphere or surface, 13
inclusive of solar radiation modification, sunlight reflection methods, 14
stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), cirrus cloud thinning (CCT), marine 15
cloud brightening (MCB), or cloud seeding. 16
(6) “Hazard” means a process, substance, or physical agent that by its 17
nature is harmful to living organisms generally or to property or another 18
interest of value. 19
(7) “Intervention” means the act of interfering with weather processes or 20
altering atmospheric or environmental conditions or releasing pollutants by 21 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.217
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methods including SRM, SAI, MCB, CCT, weather modification, cloud 1
seeding, or outdoor pollution dispersion modeling. 2
(8) “Physical agent” means an agent, other than a substance, including 3
radiofrequency/microwave (RF/MW) and other electromagnetic radiation and 4
fields, barometric pressure, temperature, gravity, kinetic or de facto weaponry, 5
mechanical vibration, and sound. 6
(9) “Pollutant” means any aerosol; biologic; biologic or genetically 7
modified agent; perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known 8
also as “forever chemicals”; chaff; substance, including smoke, vapor, soot, 9
fumes, acid, alkalis, chemicals, chemical compounds, and smart dust; 10
artificially produced electric fields; magnetic fields, electromagnetic fields, 11
electromagnetic pulse (EMP), sound waves, sound pollution, light pollution, 12
and microwaves; and all artificially produced ionizing or nonionizing radiation 13
or waste. 14
(10) “Pollution” means the discharge, dispersal, deposition, injection, 15
release, seepage, migration, or escape of pollutants. 16
(11) “Release” means any activity that results in the issuance of 17
pollutants such as the emitting, transmitting, discharging, or injecting of one or 18
more nuclear; biological; biological, chemical, or physical agents into the 19
ambient atmosphere, whether once, intermittently, or continuously. 20 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.217
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(12) “Solar radiation modification,” “sunlight reflection methods,” or 1
“SRM” means an experiment in the earth’s climatic system involving the 2
release of pollutants that reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the earth’s 3
surface. Scientific dimensions of SRM include the use of interoperable 4
ground-based, airborne, and space-based facilities. 5
(13) “State Guard” means the entity established pursuant to 20 V.S.A. 6
chapter 61. 7
(14) “Weather engineering” means the deliberate manipulation or 8
alteration of the environment for the purpose of changing the weather or 9
climate by artificial means, through interventions involving the release of 10
pollutants into the atmosphere via cloud seeding for small-scale, large-scale, 11
and global-scale alteration of the environment. 12
(15) “Weather modification” means changing, controlling, or interfering 13
with or attempting to change, control, or interfere with the natural development 14
of cloud forms, precipitation, barometric pressure, temperature, conductivity, 15
or other electromagnetic or sonic characteristics of the atmosphere. 16
§ 588. PROHIBITION ON GEOENGINEERING 17
(a) No person or entity shall engage in solar radiation modification (SRM) 18
or any polluting atmospheric intervention in Vermont, including using an 19
aircraft, a balloon, a space-based platform, a ground generator, or an 20
interoperable ground-based facility. 21 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.217
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(b) The Vermont State Police or a sheriff shall immediately issue a cease-1
and-desist order when an unlawful polluting atmospheric intervention is 2
suspected. The cease-and-desist order under this section shall have the weight 3
of a court order and any violation shall be punished in accordance with section 4
589a of this chapter. 5
(c) Government and armed forces projects shall meet all the requirements 6
of this chapter. If an activity deemed a hazard pursuant to this chapter has 7
been approved, explicitly or implicitly, by the federal government, the State 8
Police or a sheriff shall issue a notice to the appropriate federal agency that the 9
activity cannot lawfully be carried out within or over the State of Vermont. 10
(d) This chapter shall be implemented by the State Police and sheriffs, who 11
shall determine whether violations have occurred and, if deemed necessary, 12
shall refer potentially prohibited activity to the Vermont Air National Guard or 13
State Guard. The State Police and the Vermont Air National Guard shall 14
develop a policy to determine the process for referring violations to the 15
National Guard and what the enforcement procedure is. 16
§ 589. COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE 17
(a) Communications facilities shall be subject to evaluation by an 18
independent licensed radiofrequency (RF) engineer paid for by the facility 19
owner because SRM includes the use of interoperable ground-based, airborne, 20
and space-based facilities and heightened radiation levels. 21 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.217
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(b) The RF engineer shall provide findings in a report to be submitted to 1
the local sheriff. The radiation signal strength metered at the reported location 2
is not to exceed -75 dBm (decibel-milliwatt) for any frequency or channel band 3
specified by a transmitting entity’s FCC transmission license; or, maximum 4
power output limit from all frequencies or antennas from a wireless facility is 5
not to exceed 0.1 watt of effective radiated power (ERP) so as to provide -75 6
dBm signal strength at one-half mile, or five bars on a cell phone. If signal 7
strength metered by the RF engineer is in excess of -75 dBm, the facility 8
operator has 30 days to achieve compliance without disruption to performance 9
of Vermonters’ personal wireless services. The State Police shall perform 10
random testing from time to time to ensure facility compliance with this 11
chapter. Failure to comply will result in a fine of not more than $50,000.00 per 12
day for each day the facility is out of compliance. Deliberate falsification or 13
altering of information related to this section shall constitute a violation of this 14
chapter. All public and private entities operating in the state shall comply with 15
the requirements of this section. 16
§ 589a. PENALTIES AND ENFORCEMENT 17
(a) An entity or individual who engages in a polluting atmospheric 18
intervention or who uses an unmarked or unidentified aircraft or other vehicle 19
or facility to carry out SRM, SAI, geoengineering, weather modification, 20
cloud-seeding, or any other polluting atmospheric intervention: 21 BILL AS INTRODUCED H.217
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(1) has committed a felony and shall pay a fine of not more than 1
$50,000.00 or be imprisoned for not more than two years, or both; 2
(2) shall be guilty of a separate offense for each day during which 3
violative activity has been conducted, repeated, or continued; and 4
(3) shall be subject to the penalties of any other applicable pollution 5
laws. 6
(b) Each sheriff shall deputize and train one or more Vermont citizens to 7
help enforce the provisions of this chapter. The State Police, sheriff, or a 8
deputized Vermont citizen shall investigate reports of SRM, polluting 9
atmospheric interventions, or radiation to ensure compliance with the 10
requirements of this chapter. 11
Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 12
This act shall take effect on passage. 13