A Republican state lawmaker who has been dubbed a “MAGA firebrand” recently introduced legislation to fight a well-documented Enemy of the People: chemtrails?
For those who are unfamiliar with the phenomenon, “chemtrails” are a very old conspiracy theory that posits that the government (??) or some other dark force is secretly drugging us all via vapors released from airplanes. Why are THEY drugging us? That part is sorta unclear, although there are plenty of theories.
Anyway, Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano, who is a big Donald Trump fan and who has a long history of gesturing at various popular conspiracy theories—including Qanon—recently introduced an amendment to the state’s Cloud Seeding Licensure Law, which regulates the lesser-known practice of cloud seeding. What Mastriano’s legislation would do is effectively ban experimental forms of weather modification from occurring within the state. Mastriano’s legislation was revealed in a memo that he sent to other lawmakers in the hopes of ginning up support for his bill. The Pennsylvania Capital-Star originally reported on Mastriano’s memo.
“Spraying unknown, experimental, and potentially dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere without the consent of the people of Pennsylvania is a clear violation of Article 1, Section 27 of the PA Constitution,” the memo states.
Weather modification is an old science, and, in recent years, some have suggested using it to alleviate the effects of climate change. The government of China, for instance, has used weather modification for years to assist with farming efforts and, in at least one instance, to create clear skies for a parade.
The basis for the “chemtrails” theory is that planes do regularly emit vapors, or “contrails.” Conspiracy theorists predictably developed the notion that these trails deliberately contain dangerous chemicals and are being seeded into our atmosphere for nefarious purposes.
Mastriano’s memo ominously notes that “the Federal Government has ramped up efforts to fund and research “solar geoengineering” which involves the use of planes or balloons to disperse particles in the stratosphere to reflect enough sunlight to reduce global temperatures.
Mastriano formerly ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 but lost to Democrat Josh Shapiro. He was also one of the legislators who previously called on former Vice President Mike Pence to delay the certification of the 2020 Presidential election results, The Daily Beast reports.
Gizmodo reached out to Mastriano for comment and will update this story if he responds.
