Yesterday the Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee voted 2-1 to advanced legislation that would ban “chemtrails” across the state of South Carolina.
The vote on Senate Bill 110 followed a tense hearing (you can watch the full video of the hearing here) dominated entirely by supporters of the chemtrail theory. Testimony included appearances by national activist Dane Wigington, founder of GeoengineeringWatch.org, and claims major weather events are engineered by the federal government. The Environmental Protection Agency, however, maintains that no such programs exist, stating in a July fact sheet that it is “not aware of any contrail intentionally formed… for the purpose of geoengineering or weather modification.”
Rep. Thomas Lee Gilreath, who’s leading a similar effort in the SC House, says three to five other states — including Republican-led Florida and Tennessee — have already passed comparable legislation.
“First of all, there’s 3 to 5 other states that have legislation on this, so South Carolina wouldn’t be the only crazy one in here, or conspiracy state in here,” said Representative Thomas Lee Gilreath in the hearing. “They are releasing 40-60 million tons of this stuff annually…inside these military planes, in the fuselage, is filled with tanks, they disperse it out the rear end of the plane. Putting 40-60 million tons a year out is a job, these pilots get paid very well for doing that, they have a name for ’em, I can’t remember it right now.”
Lawmakers Push Forward Despite Federal Reassurances
Subcommittee members said they supported moving the bill despite differing views on its scientific basis. Sen. Jeff Zell of Sumter, an Air Force veteran, said federal agencies have “hidden” information in the past and argued the state should not dismiss the possibility.
“You can go to the Google machine and figure out what the federal government has hidden from its citizens over the last 100 years — particularly in the last 50,” said Zell. “This isn’t to say that I’m 100 percent in agreeance that there’s this massive conspiracy. But I wouldn’t doubt it at all if there was.”
Gubernatorial candidate Sen. Josh Kimbrell was the lone vote against the bill. He challenged Wigington directly, arguing that too few aircraft exist to meaningfully alter regional weather, even if someone tried.
Bill Would Make Weather-Altering Emissions Illegal
The bill amends Section 48-1-110 of state law to explicitly prohibit releasing any chemical or substance “with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight” inside South Carolina.
The bill also states, as fact, that:
“Whereas, it is documented that the federal government or other entities acting on the federal government’s behalf or at the federal government’s request may conduct geoengineering experiments by intentionally dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere, and those activities may occur within the State of South Carolina”
If passed, the law would take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature.
