ICYMI: Florida banned chemtrails - and pretty much anything that might help with climate change

The rightwingosphere is a strange and bizarre place.

It’s filled with alternative facts, conspiracy theories, and some really toxic stuff — and a lot of it has been monetized. (Rick Perlstein’s classic essay is a must-read for anyone trying to make sense of how this Long Con operates.)

With all the other things going on in the last year, I missed Florida Man Ron DeSantis bragging about not one but two accomplishments in paranoid fantasy legislation: banning fluoridation (a long-time conservative favorite boogey man), and stopping geoengineering by airplanes via chemtrails.

May 6, 2025

MIAMI, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced his support for two bills passed by the Florida Legislature aimed at protecting Floridians from unauthorized chemical exposure and atmospheric manipulation.

“Today I was in Miami to support SB 700, which bans local governments from unilaterally adding fluoride to public drinking water,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “In addition to this, I also reiterated in Miami that Florida is not a testing ground for geoengineering. We already do not permit this activity, and I will be signing SB 56 to prohibit the practice in our skies. The Free State of Florida means freedom from governments or private actors unilaterally applying chemicals or geoengineering to people or public spaces.”

IF you attempt to operate an aircraft in Florida airspace, be warned:

Senate Bill 56 repeals the state’s ability to issue permits for geoengineering and weather modification. The bill also prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity. Those who violate the law face third-degree felony charges, up to five years in prison, and fines up to $100,000.

The bill also includes key enforcement provisions. Beginning October 1, 2025, all publicly owned airports must report the presence of any aircraft equipped with weather modification or geoengineering equipment to the Florida Department of Transportation. Additionally, the Department of Environmental Protection will launch a public reporting portal to identify suspected violations which will launch this summer.

The opposite-speak language justifying this is classic:

These measures reinforce Florida’s commitment to protecting public health, preserving individual choice, and ensuring no government or corporation can unilaterally impose environmental or chemical risks on the public.

Free-dumb! The amazing thing is that they can say this kind of stuff with a straight face.

The regulations are already being spelled out. Here’s a taste via Palm Beach International Airport:

Recent Changes to Florida Law Regarding Geoengineering and Weather Modification Activities

Beginning on Oct. 1, 2025, all operators of public-use airports within the State of Florida must report the presence of any aircraft equipped with weather modification or geoengineering equipment to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) on a monthly basis.  This is in response to recent changes to Florida law regarding the prohibition on geoengineering and weather modification activities within the State of Florida, including the injection, release or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate or sunlight intensity.  Non-compliance with this initiative could potentially result in the loss of critical funding from the state, which the County relies on for the continued improvement and upkeep of our aviation and airport infrastructure in Palm Beach County.

As stated previously, the Department of Airports is required to provide a monthly report to the FDOT based on the following:

• An inventory or account detailing the physical presence of any aircraft on public property, including any public infrastructure, equipped with any part, component, device, or the like which may be used to support the intentional emission, injection, release, or dispersion of air contaminants into the atmosphere within the borders of this state when such emissions occur for the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, climate, or the intensity of sunlight.
• The landing, takeoff, stopover, or refueling of an aircraft equipped with the components outlined in paragraph (a) on the physical location of the public infrastructure.

Anyone with information related to any aircraft meeting the conditions above at Palm Beach international Airport (PBI), North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport (F45), Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA) or Palm Beach County Glades Airport (PHK) is asked to contact the Palm Beach County Department of Airports Communications Center at (561) 471-7420 and ask for the On-Duty Operations Supervisor to report these activities.  

For more information: StopChemTrails.com

Stop Chem Trails — apparently an official state website — has the slogan “Free State — Clear Skies” and links to report suspect activity. They also include a comprehensive graphic detailing assorted methods of geoengineering that are now verboten in the Sunshine State.

This is part of a determined effort by Republicans to block action on climate change by dressing it up as a threat to the public and playing on fears. Does tackling chemtrails with legislation actually do anything? Not according to Suncoast Searchlight:

Does a Florida law prevent visible streaks in the sky some call “chemtrails” from forming?
No.
“Chemtrails” are a conspiracy theory that cannot be proved or prevented through legislative action.
The term refers to contrail clouds, or visible condensation trails left in the sky by aircrafts. Some believe they are actually streaks called “chemtrails” consisting of harmful chemicals sprayed for corrupt purposes unknown to the public.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation that some thought would address “chemtrails,” as it banned weather geoengineering and prohibited “certain acts intended to affect the temperature, the weather or the intensity of sunlight within the atmosphere of this state.”
But contrail clouds didn’t disappear, as they are a natural occurrence and not a government operation. Instead, the bill blocked efforts intended to reduce the effects of climate change, such as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
-Clinton Engelberger

emphasis added

If you want to go down the rabbit hole, the Reddit conversation linked above will give you a good sampling.

Holly Jean Buck, a fellow at the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University, discusses  how to confront the fears of people freaking out over chemtrails without validating the conspiracy theories at work here. She’s got her work cut out for her:

Lawmakers in over 30 states have introduced bills to prohibit geoengineering — the intentional use of large-scale technology to cool the global climate. So far, only one of these bills has become law, but others are advancing through American legislatures.

Behind these efforts is the idea that the government uses airplanes to spray toxic chemicals above our heads to modify the weather. Here, jet contrails become imagined as “chemtrails.” Believers, blending in fears about cloud seeding, which states and local water districts in agricultural areas have done for decades to encourage rain, see a sinister plot of weather control for dubious ends with unknown chemicals.

Indeed, many of the state bills nod to conspiracy theories about a variety of technologies purportedly used in weather modification, referring to “nano-chaff”, “smart dust,” “artificially produced electric fields,” and “artificially produced ionizing or nonionizing radiation.”

For their part, politicians have seen an opportunity to appease a base, no matter how unsound the claims. Governor Ron DeSantis expressed support for the Florida bill, stating that Floridians are “proud of our sunshine.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health, has suggested the Defense Department is adding chemicals to jet fuel.

emphasis added

There’s more from Buck, including how this is being monetized. (See the Rick Perlstein link to understand the dynamic at work here. You really need to know about “The Oilfield in the Placenta” to grasp how there are big bucks in peddling this stuff.) It’s because of things like the Salata Institute that the Trump regime is trying so hard to suppress Harvard University. It’s a threat to the bottom line of all the grifters out there.

From Buck:

Despite the physics being well understood, the idea of chemtrails has metastasized into a conspiracy about geoengineering, sometimes joining with conspiracies about radiation, 5G cellular networks, and climate lockdowns. In the wake of the coronavirus, new actors who were concerned about government control over vaccines and pandemic responses more generally began to organize around geoengineering. The Informed Consent Action Network, an anti-vaccine organization which reported $23 million in revenue in 2023, has coordinated efforts to ban geoengineering, and researchers have found spillovers between conspiracies around covid and geoengineering.

emphasis added

Buck has advice on how to deal with people who have become invested in these theories — but my own inclination is to regard it as overly optimistic. In isolation, tackling chem trail fears might work — but the kind of conspiracy thinking this arises from has become endemic across the whole range of issues facing the country and it has become a matter of partisan identification IMHO.

While this is minor compared to the daily atrocities coming out of Washington, D.C. it is a useful reminder that anywhere Republicans are in control is a place where logic and reason have been tossed aside in pursuit of wealth and power, and the worst people are in charge. There is no bottom. GOPus delendus est.

We are in Schiller territory these days.