Intellpuke: "There are two identical bills in the U.S. Congress - Senate Bill 517 and House Bill 2995 - that would allow the Bush Administration to implement a weather modification policy - in other words, to try to control the weather. According to Rosalind Peterson, who wrote the following column on this issue, there has been no public discussion or debate on this policy or the bills, even though tampering with the world's weather can have unforeseen and drastic - if not dire - consequences. Ms. Peterson's article follows:

U.S. Senate Bill 517 and U.S. House Bill 2995, legislation that would allow experimental weather modification by artificial methods and implement a national weather modification policy, does not include agriculture or public oversight, and is on the "fast track" to be passed early in 2006.

This bill is designed to implement experimental weather modification. The appointed Board of Directors established by this bill does not include any agricultural, water, EPA, or public representatives, and has no provisions for Congressional, State, County, or public oversight of their actions or expenditures.

Weather Modification may adversely impact agricultural crops and water supplies. If the weather is changed in one state, region or county it may have severe consequences in another region, state or county. And who is going to decide the type of weather modification experimentation and who it will benefit or adversely impact?

This experimental weather modification bill will impact residents across the United States, not just in California. Many current and ongoing weather modification programs (47 listed by NOAA in 2005), including the one in Wyoming that is designed to increase the snowpack, may be diverting rainwater away from Oklahoma and Texas, two states that are currently fighting fires caused by a lack of rainfall. We have no idea what the unintended consequences of the Wyoming action or other experimental weather modification programs might be now or in the future.