Louisiana lawmakers pushed a bill through the state House of Representatives to ban so-called “chemtrails” — with the author of the claiming that aircraft exhaust is altering the weather.
Despite scientific consensus that the white streaks planes leave across the sky are harmless, State Rep. Kimberly Landry Coates reiterated long-touted conspiracy theories that they are used to change the weather, WVUE-TV reported.
“This bill is to prevent any chemicals above us in the air, specifically to modify the weather,” Coates said, defending the bill on Thursday.
“Chemtrails,” as Coates called them, have been at the center of conspiracy theories for decades, with people alleging that government agencies use them to conduct secret weather experiments.
The Louisiana House is only the latest to push forward such a bill, with similar legislation passing in the Florida Senate earlier this year and in Tennessee last year.
At least 24 other states are pushing for such legislation under the umbrella of banning “geoengineering” — a fledgling field of study aimed at coming up with ways to counteract climate change.
Health and Human Services Secretary Roberty F. Kennedy Jr. touted the move in March while reiterating the conspiracy theories, claiming the HHS would help however it can.
Coates told fellow lawmakers in hearings that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was one of at least nine agencies using the chemical to release “nanoparticles” to reflect sunlight and cool the Earth’s surface.
The NOAA has repeatedly dismissed the allegations from conspiracy theorists, stating that it does not conduct weather-altering experiments, nor does it have any plans to do so.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has also gone on record to explain that the streaks in the sky are actually condensation trails, or “contrails.”
The contrails are formed when the heat from aircraft exhaust meets the cold atmosphere, creating condensation vapors similar to when a person exhales on a chilly day.
Government agencies and scientific experts have repeatedly stated that the contrails have no impact on altering weather. Airlines have also worked to avoid creating contrails in recent years to scale back their carbon pollution.
The bill passed the Louisiana House by a vote of 58 to 32.
Lawmakers also added an amendment calling for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to record all chemtrail sightings and complaints from residents.
Experts have warned that these bills would also impact cloud-seeding, which is separate from commercial plane contrails, and is a technique used to develop rain clouds in limited dry areas.
The effectiveness of cloud-seeding, however, remains up for debate. Several studies found that when successful, it could cause an increased seasonal precipitation of about 10%.
