In the wake of a 19-million-gallon rainfall from chemically seeded clouds above the Kenai Peninsula last week, State Rep. Sarah Vance is calling on state authorities to order an immediate cease-and-desist of any further cloud-seeding or weather-modification activity.

California-based Rainmaker Technology Corporation claims it produced the controversial rainfall over three hours on Aug. 22-23 – the first of its kind by a private entity in Alaska. The recent operation is part of Rainmaker’s larger goal of using specialized drones and weather sensors to seed clouds across the nation with microscopic particles of silver iodide in an effort to artificially manufacture more rain.

“Since this was first brought to my attention last month, I have been asking questions about the use of drones by Rainmaker in our district,” Vance noted in an Aug. 27 statement. “At the time, it was unclear whether the activity was strictly research and development or whether it involved actual cloud seeding.”

Vance added: “Let me be clear: the State of Alaska did not approve this activity, nor was the state informed about it until I brought the FAA permits and the visible drone activity in our district to the state’s attention.”

While cloud-seeding technology has existed for nearly 80 years, Rainmaker intends to expand the practice to manipulate weather patterns across the U.S. This includes dumping water into the Colorado River and the Bear River Basin in order to increase flow into the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Rainmaker founder and CEO Augustus Doricko claims future projects could be aimed at restoring glaciers with man-made snowfall.

“Alaska’s environment and the health of its people are not available for unconsented federal experimentation,” she concluded.

Vance claimed that the recent cloud-seeding operation has raised “serious concerns about weather modification and the potential impacts of excessive rainfall on our communities.”

“As your representative, I believe Alaskans deserve to know when activities are being conducted that could potentially affect our weather, agriculture, construction, businesses, and way of life,” she said. “Today, I sent a letter to the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation requesting an immediate cease-and-desist of any cloud-seeding or weather-modification activity affecting Alaska until there can be appropriate consultation, transparency, and coordination with the State of Alaska.”

She noted that better communication and coordination should be firmly established before any further activity takes place that could impact weather, agriculture, industries or the general way of life in Alaska.

“Alaskans should not have to learn about activities affecting their communities after the fact through social media,” she concluded. “We deserve transparency. We deserve accountability. And we deserve a seat at the table before weather-modification activities take place in our communities.”

In her Aug. 27 letter to Alaska Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson, Vance urged to take immediate and forceful action by formally directing the United States Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and any other relevant federal agencies or contractors to cease all cloud seeding and weather modification experiments whose chemical or physical effects reach the land, waters, atmosphere, or public of the State of Alaska.

“States retain clear authority to protect their land, water, air quality, ecosystems, fisheries, and public health from the effects of substances that precipitate within their borders,” she wrote. “Dispersing silver iodide or other seeding agents that fall onto Alaska soil or waters constitutes a release subject to state environmental interests. Private contractors operating under federal contracts do not enjoy the full sovereign immunity available to federal employees acting in official capacity and remain subject to state law unless a specific federal statute expressly preempts it.”

Even where a federal contract exists, Vance noted that a state may “lawfully demand that federal agencies and their contractors refrain from activities that deposit chemicals within Alaska’s territorial jurisdiction.”

“Alaska’s environment and the health of its people are not available for unconsented federal experimentation,” she concluded.

TAKING ACTION

— To contact Alaska Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson, call (907) 465-3900 or email dot.commissioner@alaska.gov.

Click here to support the Alaska Watchman.