Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants to Make Weather Control a Crime

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) says she’s had enough of what she calls weather modification. The Georgia Republican announced she’s introducing a bill that would make it a felony to release chemicals or substances into the atmosphere to alter the weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight.

“I am introducing a bill that 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,” Greene wrote on X. “It will be a felony offense.”

She also called for an end to what she described as “the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering.”

Greene’s proposal mirrors a new law in Florida that criminalizes unapproved cloud seeding and similar activities. That law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in June and now in effect, makes such acts a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison or fines as high as $100,000.

Greene said she has been “researching weather modification” and is modeling her legislation after Florida’s. She added that Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee is co-sponsoring the bill.

“No person, company, entity, or government should ever be allowed to modify our weather by any means possible!!” Greene wrote.

While her bill appears to lean into longstanding conspiracy theories about “chemtrails,” Greene has not backed away from those associations. She has previously implied that the government is capable of controlling the weather, including in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024, which killed at least 227 people. At the time, Greene appeared to suggest the then-Democrat-controlled government may have had a hand in influencing the storm.

Conspiracy theories about chemtrails have been widely discredited by scientists and government agencies. The Environmental Protection Agency says the white lines often seen behind airplanes are contrails, or condensation trails, formed when hot jet exhaust hits cold air at high altitudes. The agency says these contrails are a natural byproduct of air travel and pose no risk.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has also denied any involvement in weather modification programs of the kind Greene is targeting.

Not everyone in Greene’s party is embracing her efforts.

After her remarks on Hurricane Helene last year, Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican from North Carolina, called the idea that people can control hurricanes “nonsense.” Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez went further, calling the claims “utterly insane.”

Even within conservative circles, the topic remains fringe.

Greene’s critics say the bill distracts from urgent issues that lawmakers could be addressing, like climate adaptation, emergency preparedness or infrastructure upgrades.

Still, Greene’s weather bill may resonate with her base, particularly those who believe geoengineering is real and underreported. Whether it gains enough traction to move in a Republican-controlled House remains to be seen.

For now, it is another example of Greene leaning into controversy and carving out space in Congress for ideas that mainstream scientists and many of her colleagues dismiss outright.

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