Vermont H 217: An act relating to the evaluation of Act 46

Bill Text

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VT LEG #379707 v.3
H.217 1
Introduced by Representatives Burtt of Cabot, Branagan of Georgia, Coffin of 2
Cavendish, Cooper of Pownal, Dobrovich of Williamstown, 3
Goslant of Northfield, Harvey of Castleton, Higley of Lowell, 4
Lipsky of Stowe, Morgan, L. of Milton, Nelson of Derby, North 5
of Ferrisburgh, O’Brien of Tunbridge, Powers of Waterford, 6
Pritchard of Pawlet, Southworth of Walden, Sweeney of 7
Shelburne, Tagliavia of Corinth, Wells of Brownington, and 8
Winter of Ludlow 9
Referred to Committee on 10
Date: 11
Subject: Conservation and development; air pollution; geoengineering 12
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to prohibit the 13
use of solar radiation modification, cloud seeding, geoengineering, and other 14
polluting atmospheric experiments and interventions. It would require reports 15
of violations to be made to the Vermont State Police, sheriffs, or deputized 16
Vermont citizens to enforce the provisions. 17
An act relating to prohibiting geoengineering 18

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VT LEG #379707 v.3
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 1
Sec. 1. SHORT TITLE 2
This act may be cited as the “Vermont Clean Air Preservation Act.” 3
Sec. 2. 10 V.S.A. chapter 23A is added to read: 4
CHAPTER 23A. GEOENGINEERING 5
§ 587. DEFINITIONS 6
As used in this chapter: 7
(1) “Atmospheric activity” means any polluting experiment or 8
intervention conducted by any person, artificial intelligence, or any 9
combination thereof, that occurs in the atmosphere and may have harmful 10
consequences upon health, the environment, or agriculture. 11
(2) “Chaff” means aluminum-coated silica glass fibers typically 12
dispersed in bundles containing 5,000,000 to 100,000,000 inhalable fibers, 13
which fall to the ground in about one day, or for nano-chaff, years, and then 14
fall and break apart. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), 15
known also as “forever chemicals,” are an ingredient in chaff. 16
(3) “Cloud seeding” is a type of weather engineering or experimentation 17
that may change the amount or type of precipitation by dispersing chemicals or 18
chemical compounds such as dry ice (CO2), silver iodide (AgI), or Tri-methyl 19
aluminum (TMA) into the atmosphere by means of aircraft or ground 20
generators. 21

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(4) “Entity” means any of the following: individual; trust; firm; joint 1
stock company; corporation, including a quasigovernmental corporation; 2
nongovernmental organization; public or private partnership; association; 3
syndicate; municipality or municipal agency; program; fire district; club; 4
nonprofit agency; commission; university; college or academic institution; 5
State department or agency; the federal government or any interstate or 6
international governance or instrumentality thereof, including foreign, 7
domestic, and mercenary armed services or region within the United States; 8
and artificial intelligence. 9
(5) “Geoengineering” means the intentional large-scale alteration or 10
manipulation of the environment involving the release of aerosols, chemicals, 11
chemical compounds, electromagnetic radiation, or other physical agents that 12
increase air pollution and effect changes to the earth’s atmosphere or surface, 13
inclusive of solar radiation modification, sunlight reflection methods, 14
stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), cirrus cloud thinning (CCT), marine 15
cloud brightening (MCB), or cloud seeding. 16
(6) “Hazard” means a process, substance, or physical agent that by its 17
nature is harmful to living organisms generally or to property or another 18
interest of value. 19
(7) “Intervention” means the act of interfering with weather processes or 20
altering atmospheric or environmental conditions or releasing pollutants by 21

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methods including SRM, SAI, MCB, CCT, weather modification, cloud 1
seeding, or outdoor pollution dispersion modeling. 2
(8) “Physical agent” means an agent, other than a substance, including 3
radiofrequency/microwave (RF/MW) and other electromagnetic radiation and 4
fields, barometric pressure, temperature, gravity, kinetic or de facto weaponry, 5
mechanical vibration, and sound. 6
(9) “Pollutant” means any aerosol; biologic; biologic or genetically 7
modified agent; perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known 8
also as “forever chemicals”; chaff; substance, including smoke, vapor, soot, 9
fumes, acid, alkalis, chemicals, chemical compounds, and smart dust; 10
artificially produced electric fields; magnetic fields, electromagnetic fields, 11
electromagnetic pulse (EMP), sound waves, sound pollution, light pollution, 12
and microwaves; and all artificially produced ionizing or nonionizing radiation 13
or waste. 14
(10) “Pollution” means the discharge, dispersal, deposition, injection, 15