Sen. Steve Southerland Sponsors Bill To Stop US Government Geoengineering

Last week the Tennessee Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources committee passed legislation sponsored by Senator Steve Southerland. The legislation is designed to protect the state of Tennessee from the federal government’s efforts to conduct geoengineering experiments. Two years ago in March of 2022, President Joe Biden signed a bill that instructed his Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a cross-agency group to coordinate research on such climate interventions, in partnership with NASA.

According to an article in the MIT Technology Review , the main part of their plan is to use planes or balloons to disperse tiny particles in the stratosphere. These would then—in theory—reflect back enough sunlight to ease warming, mimicking the effect of massive volcanic eruptions in the past. Some research groups have also explored whether releasing certain particles could break up cirrus clouds, which trap heat against the Earth. This is the latest program to battle so called “climate change”.

Senator Steve Southerland’s office says these experiments intentionally disperse chemicals into the atmosphere and the risk to the public health and welfare is not known. The legislation moving through the state senate specifically prohibits “the intentional injection, release or dispersion by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight.” Senator Southerland says this legislation will protect all Tennesseans.