Tennessee House lawmakers last week passed a ban on geoengeering – or the process of impacting the climate by injecting chemicals or other substances into the atmosphere – after the Senate passed the bill the previous week. Geoengeering has been suggested by some as a solution to global warming; for instance, by injecting small reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect some sunlight and heat back into space before it can reach the Earth’s surface. The Tennessee bill specifically focused on the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, (or) substances,” into the atmosphere.
Critics of the move, though, say there are no large scale plans to do so by local or federal governments, and that the legislature is wasting time better spent on other issues; like economic development, job growth and creation, and reducing the cost of living. Some opposition politicians mocked it by linking it to protections for “Yetis, or Sasquatch, or Bigfoot.” But the bill’s sponsor, Monty Fritts, said the bill was a “common-sense” approach, stating, “Everything that goes up, must come down, and those chemicals that we knowingly and willingly inject into the atmosphere simply to control the weather, or the climate, are affecting our health.”
It was this language, and language from other supporters of the bill, which linked it directly to ideas about chemtrails. While some used the term to make fun of the legislation, tying it to conspiracy theories, others were sincere in their belief that chemicals are being purposely injected into the atmosphere for any of various reasons, and that doing so should be regulated.
Senator Frank Niceley, during a hearing for the bill last month, told colleagues, “This will be my wife’s favorite bill of the year. She has worried about this, I bet, ten years. It’s been going on a long, long time.” Niceley referenced the criss-cross of contrails that could be seen in the skies on some days, adding, “For years they denied they were doing anything.”