Rhode Island Bill H5480 - Relating to the Health and Safety of Geoengineering

• What backstory do people need to know about this bill?

This bill was originally introduced into the Rhode Island House of Representatives by Representatives Karen MacBeth (D) and Justin Price (R) in 2015. It appears that the original impetus for the bill was Representative Price’s embrace of the so-called “chemtrail conspiracy,” the purported plot by the government and/or corporations to use aircraft to spray chemical or biological agents into the atmosphere for various purposes. The bill failed to clear out of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee in 2015. It was “held for further study” in its 2016 incarnation in the same committee.

• How were you involved?

In early 2016, Representative MacBeth approached me to review the bill, and we agreed that I would engage in a re-draft. I emphasized that I did not believe in chemtrails, and that the bill should focus on responsible oversight of potential research into climate geoengineering that might transpire in Rhode Island. Because the sponsors’ primary concern appeared to be the risks posed by solar radiation management, we also agreed that this would be the cynosure of the bill’s re-drafted language. As is true with most legislation, compromises had to be made. There is language in the bill that I consider a bit overblown in terms of its characterization of climate geoengineering research, but this is the nature of politics. In the end, I felt that the bill provided some salutary mechanisms to both ensure scientific and public oversight.

• What did you hope to achieve?

I had two purposes: Firstly, I was hoping to help draft legislation that would serve as a model for discussion of what national legislation or international governance might look like in terms of regulating geoengineering research and potential deployment. This obviously won’t be the ultimate province of sub-national actors; however, state legislation often provides a model for national legislation and regulations. Some of the elements included in the bill, such as thresholds for regulatory interventions in terms of research, and environmental impact assessment, are elements that should be included in national or international governance approaches. The contours of these elements is certainly subject to further debate, but it was my hope that this bill would provide a foundation for said debates.

Secondly, I thought that a “live” bill would help to stimulate discussion among both policymakers and the public about climate geoengineering in a way that hasn’t happened to date, with geoengineering largely residing in the theoretical realm for most people. I subscribe to the theory of “anticipatory governance,” meaning that it’s critical to engage stakeholders early in the process of the discussion of potentially momentous decisions.

• In your words, what would you say the takeaway from all this is?

Ultimately, the primary people testifying about the bill were those who equate climate geoengineering with “chemtrails.” As a consequence, I think the bill wasn’t really given serious consideration by the Rhode Island House Environment and Natural Resources Committee. It is anticipated that the bill will be re-introduced in the future. Hopefully, members of the geoengineering community will weigh into the process.

Rhode Island State Representative Justin Price continues to show a level of courage and determination that is almost nonexistent in the halls of elected government officials at any level. In February of 2016 Geoengineering Watch published a report detailing the ongoing efforts by Rhode Island legislators to bring exposure and accountability to the critical issue of global geoengineering/climate engineering programs which are decimating the biosphere and the entire web of life. GeoengineeringWatch.org supplied climate engineering informational materials and educational DVDs to the legislators and committee members. A compelling short video testimony from the 2016 Rhode Island Legislation hearing is below.

Action: 2017-03-21 - Withdrawn at sponsor's request (03/23/2017)

RI H6011 | 2017 | Regular Session
Rhode Island House Bill 6011
RI State Legislature page for H6011

Status
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: Introduced on March 24 2017 - 25% progression
Action: 2017-03-24 - Introduced, referred to House Environment and Natural Resources
Pending: House Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Summary
Regulates "geoengineering" of the global environment.

Title
The Geoengineering Act Of 2017

Sponsors
Rep. Justin Price [R]

History

Date Chamber Action
2017-03-24 House Introduced, referred to House Environment and Natural Resources

Bill Title: House Resolution Creating A Special Legislative Commission To Study The Establishment Of Procedures To Regulate And License The Intentional Manipulation Of The Global Environment Through Geoengineering (creates A 5 Member Commission To Study And Provide Recommendations On The Regulation And Licensure Of Geoenginerring, And Who Would Report Back By April 2, 2018, And Expire On June 2, 2018.)

(a) Process. Any person seeking to implement, conduct, or engage in any form of 25 geoengineering within or above any area of the state shall first submit to the director of the 26 department of environmental management an application for a license to engage in a specific type 27 of geoengineering.

In response, the Geoengineering Act of 2017 H6011 was co-authored by Rosalind Peterson http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org and Susan Clarke, introduced by Representative Justin Price in Rhode Island State. Its a national and international legislative initiative to end the programs that use technology to artificially manipulate the Earth’s natural systems such as spraying atmospheric aerosols and controlling weather with electromagnetics. Here is the text of that bill

15 (ii) Carbon black or black carbon releases: Deliberate, atmospheric releases of soot are
16 used to produce artificial weather events. In particular, aerosolized coal combustion fly ash liberates
17 dispersed aluminum, which, when absorbed into human and other bodies, is a primary factor in the
18 pronounced increase in neurological diseases and the widespread debilitation of Earth’s biota.

12-F:5 Penalties and Enforcement. An entity or individual who engages in a hazardous atmospheric activity or any entity or individual who uses an unmarked or unidentified aircraft or other vehicle or facility to carry out SAI geoengineering, weather modification, cloud-seeding, or other polluting atmospheric activity:

I. Has committed a felony and shall pay a fine of not less than $500,000 or be imprisoned for not less than 2 years, or both;

II. Shall be guilty of a separate offense for each day during which violative activity has been conducted, repeated, or continued; and

III. Shall be deemed in violation, and subject to the penalties of RSA 125-C, RSA 125-D, and RSA 125-I, and other applicable pollution laws of the state of New Hampshire.

12-F:6 Public Participation; Reporting.

I. The department shall post advertisements in newspapers of general circulation and on the departmental Internet website to encourage the public to monitor, measure, document and report present, potential and past incidents that may constitute stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), cloud seeding or other polluting atmospheric activities.

II. An individual who presents evidence of SAI geoengineering, cloud-seeding or other polluting atmospheric activity under paragraph I shall email or otherwise write and send to the commissioner of the department of environmental services, New Hampshire county sheriffs, or to any state public official any of the following:

(a) Evidentiary photographs, each separately titled as an electronic or hard-copy document, with the respective location from which, and, if the content is from other than a measuring device, the direction in which, the photo was taken, with its time and date; and

(b) Collected samples with photography, videography, audiography, lab tests, microscopy, spectrometry, metering, and other forms of evidence shall similarly be submitted in writing to the department of environmental air resources division of compliance, New Hampshire county sheriffs, or to any state office, or any state public official.

On June 8, 2009, Gerhard purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition. The next day, Gerhard bought necessary ingredients for manufacturing pipe bombs. The pipe bombs consisted of cylinders of pipe filled with explosive powder, with space for a fuse to be inserted; twenty-one pipe bombs were found. On July 30, 2010 Gerhard was sentenced to 240 months' imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and a $400 special assessment.

They primarily argue that only New Hampshire, and not the United States, has jurisdiction to prosecute crimes occurring in Plainfield, New Hampshire. They also argue that there is no venue in a federal courthouse in Concord, New Hampshire. Their theory is that either the United States must buy the land on which the offense occurred or the land must have been ceded by New Hampshire to the federal government for federal criminal laws to attach. Defendants' murky and confused argument seems to posit that this federal prosecution entails a violation of the sovereignty of the state of New Hampshire and that these defendants may assert whatever sovereign rights New Hampshire has. The claim is utterly frivolous and has been rejected before by this court and others.

This impression is strengthened by a visit to Gerhard's own website, which features this prominently on the front page:

"Pollutants" means any solid, liquid, gaseous, or thermal irritant, contaminant, or substance including smoke, vapor, soot, fumes, aerosol plumes, acid, alkalis, chemicals, artificially produced electric fields, magnetic field, electromagnetic field, electromagnetic pulse, sound waves, sound pollution, light pollution, microwaves, and all artificially produced ionizing or non-ionizing radiation, and/or waste. Waste includes materials to be recycled, reconditioned or reclaimed.

Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill banning the release of airborne chemicals that critics say is inspired by "chemtrails" conspiracy theories.

The bill forbids "intentional injection, release, or dispersion" of chemicals into the air.
It doesn't explicitly mention chemtrails, which conspiracy theorists believe are poisons spread by planes.

Instead it broadly prohibits "affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight".

The Republican-sponsored bill passed along party lines on Monday. If it is signed by Tennessee's governor, Republican Bill Lee, it will go into effect on 1 July.

The bill's backers were spurred on by a government report released last year on solar geoengineering, which is the idea of cooling the planet by reflecting sunlight back into space. The White House, though, has said that there are no plans "to establish a comprehensive research programme focused on solar radiation modification."

The licensee shall cause the notice of intention to be published once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper having a general circulation and published within any county wherein the operation is to be conducted and in which the affected area is located, or, if the operation is to be conducted in more than one county or if the affected area is located in more than one county or is located in a county other than the one in which the operation is to be conducted, then such notice shall be published in like manner in a newspaper having a general circulation and published wtihin each of such counties. In case there is no newspaper published within the appropriate county, publication shall be made in a newspaper having a general circulation within the county.