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

Traditionally we've had a vampire problem...

Appropriately enough, it looks as though H5480 may be "rising from the dead", but repurposed from a chemtrail-based bill to one that actually addresses real geoengineering proposals.

Wil Burns, co-executive director of the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment, has redrafted the bill, as H7578, to make it more scientifically rigorous.

http://dcgeoconsortium.org/2016/08/...-7578-the-climate-geoengineering-act-of-2016/

Q&A with Wil Burns, Ph.D.
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  • 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.
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it looks as though H5480 may be "rising from the dead", but repurposed from a chemtrail-based bill to one that actually addresses real geoengineering proposals.

That's would seem like an ideal outcome for most aspects of the chemtrail conspiracy. There has certainly been some occasional movement in that direction, like with Jim Lee, sort of.

Geoengineering is something that might be done in the future. It's important that the public are informed about the topic (and about anthropogenic climate change in general) so that political decisions can be (oh so very slightly) more science based rather than ideology, fear, and popularism based.
 
That's would seem like an ideal outcome for most aspects of the chemtrail conspiracy.
Unfortunately, if the bill passes, I suspect that the chemtrail believers will ignore the fact that most of their language has been stripped out of it, and seize on the (revised) bill as proof that they were right all along.
 
Unfortunately, if the bill passes, I suspect that the chemtrail believers will ignore the fact that most of their language has been stripped out of it, and seize on the (revised) bill as proof that they were right all along.


Looks like you may be right.

RI Law.png

From geoengineeringwatch.org today:

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.
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http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/anti-geoengineering-legislation-effort-in-rhode-island-continues/

Much of the language in the earlier draft of the bill is gone. The new bill seems much more tentative [my emphasis]

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. The general assembly finds and declares as follows:

(1) Solar radiation management and climate geoengineering research is in an extremely
early stage
, but if unrestricted and unregulated, could have an economic impact on the state by potentially allowing increased amounts of air contaminants and air pollution throughout all areas of the state.

(2) Solar radiation management and climate geoengineering approaches could also have a negative impact on the state's economy, as well as environmental, soil, water, and air quality, posing unforeseen and potentially deleterious public health risks.

(3) Geoengineering could have a negative impact on the state by upsetting the complex natural balance in nature, because scientists do not fully understand the vast interconnections between various species and their environments which make life habitable on earth.
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Attachments

  • H5607.pdf
    44.1 KB · Views: 603
But it still says geoengineering is a crime, and you must pay $5 million and get jailed for 15 years for every day you are geoengineering in Rhode Island! :D
 
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But it still says geoengineering is a crime, and you must pay $5 million and get jailed for 15 years for every day you are geoengineering in Rhode Island! :D
In some ways it might be a good thing if the bill passes. When contrails continue it just might get the message through that contrails are not geoengineering.
 
The bill has been re-introduced.
https://legiscan.com/RI/bill/H6011/2017

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
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PDF: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText17/HouseText17/H6011.pdf
 
Rhode Island legislation has passed a resolution to set up a 5-member commission to work out regulations for geoengineering by next April.
https://legiscan.com/RI/rollcall/H6011/id/676749
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.)
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(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.

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(6) Glacier-reflecting blanket deployment;

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Do they have a lot of glaciers in Rhode Island? http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText17/HouseText17/H6011.pdf

Maybe they're just hoping it will act as a sort of template for world-wide legislation of geoengineering activities.
 
The bill has been re-introduced.
https://legiscan.com/RI/bill/H6011/2017

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
Content from External Source
PDF: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText17/HouseText17/H6011.pdf

But very different from the previous version. This one was apparently co-authored by Rosalind Peterson (RIP). I think Jolie Diane DePauw has also had a hand in this.

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
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http://inothernewsradio.com/podcast/in-other-news-january-8-2017/
 
An update of sorts: it looks like some of the language in this bill has resurfaced in a new Rhode Island House Bill, HB5866: https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/ri/2023/bills/RIB00025420/#billtexts

This one has been introduced by Robert J. Quattrocchi, David J. Place, Michael W. Chippendale and a couple of others.

The language in it reads as if they have taken every conspiracy theory that could find and decided to ban it. It includes the Marvin Herndon coal fly ash theory, as well as implant chips and all sorts. (Herndon’s trademark use of the word “biota” is present and correct!)


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.
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2 (xxi) Per the William & Mary Law Review, the enabling of the Internet of Bodies (IoB), a
3 “mesh” or grid through which every human and most animals would contain worn, ingested,
4 inhaled, and/or injected chips or sensors of micro to pico size with transmitting antennas, with every
5 body functioning as an internet node with thousands of internal datapoints, toward complete
6 warrantless surveillance and control, even by foreign entities, with constant biometric data
7 collection and loss of autonomy under an overarching Artificial Intelligence, in violation of the
8 U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment as well as the Rhode Island State Constitution’s Article I,
9 §7.
10 (xxii) Vulnerability of communications signals from the potential for solar flare alteration
11 or demolition of space-based solar power systems.
12 (xxiii) Electrical grid is vulnerable to attack through the hackability of the “smart” grid and
13 “smart” devices; Intense microwave radiation spikes transmitted from the “smart” grid, inclusive
14 of “smart” meters, could spark fires, in addition to harming health and the environment.
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etc etc etc…
 
New Hampshire is at it now.

https://legiscan.com/NH/drafts/HB1700/2024


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.
Content from External Source
 
An update of sorts: it looks like some of the language in this bill has resurfaced in a new Rhode Island House Bill, HB5866: https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/ri/2023/bills/RIB00025420/#billtexts

This one has been introduced by Robert J. Quattrocchi, David J. Place, Michael W. Chippendale and a couple of others.

The language in it reads as if they have taken every conspiracy theory that could find and decided to ban it. It includes the Marvin Herndon coal fly ash theory, as well as implant chips and all sorts. (Herndon’s trademark use of the word “biota” is present and correct!)


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.
Content from External Source

2 (xxi) Per the William & Mary Law Review, the enabling of the Internet of Bodies (IoB), a
3 “mesh” or grid through which every human and most animals would contain worn, ingested,
4 inhaled, and/or injected chips or sensors of micro to pico size with transmitting antennas, with every
5 body functioning as an internet node with thousands of internal datapoints, toward complete
6 warrantless surveillance and control, even by foreign entities, with constant biometric data
7 collection and loss of autonomy under an overarching Artificial Intelligence, in violation of the
8 U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment as well as the Rhode Island State Constitution’s Article I,
9 §7.
10 (xxii) Vulnerability of communications signals from the potential for solar flare alteration
11 or demolition of space-based solar power systems.
12 (xxiii) Electrical grid is vulnerable to attack through the hackability of the “smart” grid and
13 “smart” devices; Intense microwave radiation spikes transmitted from the “smart” grid, inclusive
14 of “smart” meters, could spark fires, in addition to harming health and the environment.
Content from External Source
etc etc etc…

"Internet of Bodies"? That is a new one to me. Checked a number of acronym finder websites, two of them did have it listed. But both of them listed as a source for it as OTHER acronym finder websites.

Searching the internet on that phrase did return a bunch of items using that name, so there are people using it. Mostly it seems to be an extension of, or subset of, the Internet of Things (IoT).

Expect to see IoB coming soon on your favorite conspiracy website.
 
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:
note that this language says "hazardous OR geoengineering", which means it can remain unclear if geoengineering is hazardous or not.

I'd have thought "hazardous atmospheric activity" too vague to be enforceable.

And if the geoengineering is not hazardous, is it constitutionally allowed to prohibit it?
 
I'd have thought "hazardous atmospheric activity" too vague to be enforceable.
Indeed. Would seem to, in something close to context, maybe include having a fire in your fireplace or driving a combustion-engine car. Ignoring context a bit more, might include skydiving or (horrors) flying a large kite.

And if the geoengineering is not hazardous, is it constitutionally allowed to prohibit it?
Not sure I can come up with any Constitutional requirement that an activity be shown to be hazardous before it can be prohibited, but I am not a Constitutional scholar.

Or, looking at it from the other end, most any activity comes with at least SOME potential hazard... so there's that...
 
One of the sponsors of the New Hampshire bill is state representative Jason Gerhard.

Gerhard has an interesting history, according to Wikipedia:
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.
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Following the link to the court judgement, it seems there is more than a hint of the sovereign citizen about him:
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.
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This impression is strengthened by a visit to Gerhard's own website, which features this prominently on the front page:

1704906463640.png
 
And yet another bill, H7295, has been introduced in Rhode Island, with big chunks of language almost identical to the New Hampshire bill.

Notably, the text of this bill seems to define "pollutants" as... well, literally everything. Solid, liquid, gas, acid, alkali, "chemical", any form of electromagnetic radiation, or nuclear radiation...

"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.
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And yet another bill, H7295, has been introduced in Rhode Island, with big chunks of language almost identical to the New Hampshire bill.

Notably, the text of this bill seems to define "pollutants" as... well, literally everything. Solid, liquid, gas, acid, alkali, "chemical", any form of electromagnetic radiation, or nuclear radiation...
Go ahead, explain to them that oxygen and nitrogen are chemicals, and blow their little minds. As a fair-skinned redhead I find sunlight to be a "thermal irritant", and unless you count the very air itself, sound is not a "substance". This is so poorly defined as to be completely unworkable. It's just asking for people (can I use the term "nuts"?) to come forward claiming that the neighbor's microwave is the reason they break out in hives, or electromagnetic fields are the reason the dog ran away.
 
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artificially produced electric fields, magnetic field, electromagnetic field, electromagnetic pulse,
Wow. Are they planning to shut their whole power supply grid down? Or how do they account for people's desire to have 'artificially produced electric fields' as a fundamental part of modern existence. Can anyone call the pollution reporting hotline on their mobile phone to make a complaint about this matter, while it's typed up on a computer and the file stored in the cloud? My irony meter just went 'Spoing'...
Go ahead, explain to them that oxygen and nitrogen are chemicals, and blow their little minds.
Ann K, that is taking candy from a babe. When politicians try to introduce scientificalitatiousness into anything, this is the outcome.
 
New Hampshire bill HB1700 was effectively killed yesterday by the House Science, Technology & Energy Committee, who voted 16-3 in favour of an ITL (Inexpedient to Legislate) motion.

The Legiscan page hasn't been updated yet.

I'm sure the fact of the bill being killed won't stop it being shared as some kind of "proof" - after all HR2977 is still being cited by chemtrail believers even now, after more than two decades.
 
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