Wyoming’s top scientists and water policy advisors laid out their case for why the state should continue its cloud seeding program to lawmakers recently. But language to ban the practice was moved forward.
For a couple decades, the state has helped pioneer the technology that puts a little more water on a drought stricken landscape. Whether it continues is largely based on whether lawmakers believe Wyoming’s own research that the program works and is relatively safe or growing conspiracy concerns.
The panel focused on four things.
First, cloud seeding works: Injecting storm-prone clouds with a salt-like mixture helps them produce more snow.
Second: More research is needed to know just how much it works. Some data show up to 10% more snowfall, but results are mixed.
Third: Cloud seeing doesn’t “rob Peter to pay Paul.” In other words, cloud seeding doesn’t take away moisture from other areas.
Fourth: Multiple studies over the last 13 years have found environmental and health impacts are negligible.
“I think a lot of times folks hear things and conspiracy theories – we just wanted to educate, so that you can make an informed decision, and that's the most important thing,” said Barry Lawrence, Wyoming Water Development Office deputy director, during the Aug. 28 meeting of the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources committee.
The panel spoke specifically to the ingredients used in cloud seeding that raise alarm bells for skeptics: silver iodide and sodium perchlorate. Both occur naturally in the environment at magnitudes higher than what is deposited from cloud seeding, said Ross Edwards, a senior scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It's just not possible to change anything in the environment. It's already there. So it's already there in the soil naturally. It's already there in the water,” Edwards said, adding that the third ingredient, paradichlorobenzene, is found in much higher quantities in toilet urinal cakes.
But after about two hours, Lawrence and the other scientists stepped aside.
The next couple hours were filled with grave concern from the public and deep mistrust of the data just presented. Tuning in via Zoom and in-person, nine people, including Wyomingites and national anti-weather modification lobbyists spoke up, as well as a handful of state lawmakers.
They’re worried for their health and the environment, claiming a general decline in America’s health is related to hovering clouds that they think the government has laced with chemicals. They think cloud seeding could be part of this, but there could be other unknown operations. They pointed to geoengineering, which refers to manipulating the environment to lessen climate change impacts and could take the form of carbon dioxide removal, something Wyoming is actively pursuing.
“By about 12:30, there was 12 crisscross patterns across the sky,” said Rep. Tony Locke (R-Casper) about a recent Saturday sky in Casper. “By about 3:30, all of those big old clouds, big old streams of whatever contents in them, all merged together in a massive cloud haze that hung over Casper for the next several hours.”
This rhetoric falls into the vein of the debunked “chemtrails” conspiracy theory. Believers point to the contrails or condensation trails, which come from aircraft exhaust condensing and freezing at high altitudes, as evidence of something more sinister.
“The checkerboard patterns in the sky and the long miles of lowhanging thin clouds that seems to shade the earth – I think these things are real,” said Rep. Mike Schmid (R-LaBarge). “Cancer diagnosis around the country are skyrocketing. Deaths are low because we're getting better at treating it, but the cases are going through the roof. Same thing with respiratory illnesses. Something's causing that.”
While the total number of cancer diagnoses in the country are up – and incidence rates in young people and women are rising – the overall rate of diagnoses per 100,000 people peaked in 1992 and has slowly trended downward since, even when accounting for delayed case reports, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. The Institute estimated about “38.9% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes (based on 2018–2021 data, not including 2020, due to COVID).”
Scientists have researched and debunked a rabbit hole of conspiracies about cloud seeding. One peer reviewed study published in 2016 is called, “Quantifying expert consensus against the existence of a secret, large-scale atmospheric spraying program.”
Regardless, the conspiracy continues to resurface. In the last couple years, Tennessee and Florida passed laws banning any type of weather modification. At least 14 other states introduced similar legislation this year, including Wyoming. Although a full ban failed in Wyoming, lawmakers stripped funding for cloud seeding.
The program is scrambling to make up the $320,000 deficit for the 2026 season. Those likely pitching in include municipalities like Cheyenne and Sweetwater County, water intensive industries like trona mining, and downriver states that depend on Wyoming’s water, like Nevada.
But whether the program will continue into 2027 is up in the air. Schmid is proposing to ban geoengineering and end cloud seeding for a decade. The committee approved the language to be drafted into two bills and one resolution that they’ll review later this fall.
“Is this it? I don't know,” said Schmid about what he thinks are mysterious clouds that could be linked to things like cancer and declining bighorn sheep populations. “Is it part of it? I don't know that either. None of us do. But we need to find out.”
Schmid did not offer any evidence on the links he mentioned.
“I'm just really tired of arguing about this,” said Rep. John Eklund (R-Cheyenne) about three hours into the meeting. “What I heard today on cloud seeding was that it works. To what degree, nobody's real sure. Then we mixed it up with a bunch of other stuff, chemtrailing, and I have no clue what that is.”
Eklund said cloud seeding is a “tool in the toolbox” for water conservation, specifically pointing to the Wyoming state engineer’s office update heard earlier that day. The focus was the Colorado River Basin.
Wyoming continues to negotiate with the six other states that depend on the system about how the water will be divvied up as resources continue to dwindle. Wyoming wants to hold onto as much water as possible for municipalities, agricultural users and the energy industry. But to be a friendly negotiator, the state needs to show it’s using all the “tools in the toolbox” to conserve – or create – more water, which includes cloud seeding.
“I'd be careful about hamstringing the state engineer and those attorneys and those water people who are really trying to fight for Wyoming right now,” Eklund said.
This sentiment was echoed by Brad Brooks, director of the City of Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities. He told lawmakers that the city is likely facing half the water it normally has if Colorado River Basin curtailments are enforced.
“So for me, what I'm up against is I have 70,000 plus people that we provide water to and I've got to find additional water resources to make up for that shortfall,” Brooks said.
For Brooks, part of that includes cloud seeding. He said Cheyenne has helped contribute to Wyoming’s program for more than eight years.
Some of those who subscribe to the chemtrail conspiracy are also worried about diminishing water resources. But they differ on why. Instead of seeing the state’s persistent drought as caused by climate change, they think the supposed chemical laced clouds are the reason why.
“So the problem that is causing all of the drought that we are in, for the
most part, is because of the geoengineering programs that are desiccating the whole region,” said Patrick Hagan, who testified via Zoom during public comment but didn’t say where he’s from. “So these are drying the air out. They are sucking up the moisture.”
The Journal of Geophysical Research published a study in 2024 showing geoengineering could help offset impacts from greenhouse gas-caused climate change by decreasing the severity of drought in most areas. Although some regions could face an increase, like Africa.
The back and forth between cloud seeding, geoengineering and other possible mysterious government operations left some lawmakers stumped on what they were banning.
“Maybe we should hire someone to actually figure out what the hell's going on before we outlaw it, because we don't even know what we're outlawing,” said Sen. Barry Crago (R-Buffalo) to Schmid. “Just because some other state is doing it doesn't mean we should do that. If we want to do some research, find out about it, I think a lot of us, almost all of us, would probably be supportive of that.”
In response, Schmid said, “Sometimes in order to get your hands around something, in my life, we've had to stop it in order to get our hands around it and start somewhere.”
“So what are we stopping?” Crago asked. “I mean you just said a couple minutes ago that you really don't know what this is and we got to figure out what it is. So how do we do that?”
Both Crago and Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) questioned if people were asking the committee to ban all air travel in Wyoming. It remained unclear, but supporters of Schmid’s proposals said bill draft language should address their “chemtrail” concerns.
However, Provenza and Eklund pointed out the proposals weren’t available for prior review. Twelve days after the committee hearing, the drafts weren’t available online. Typically, lawmakers are voting on draft bills that have been available to them and the public beforehand.
“I do not know what either of these bills do because I haven't seen either of them,” said Eklund, who tuned in via Zoom.
Provenza, Eklund and Crago were the only lawmakers on the 14-member committee to vote ‘no’ to draft Schmid’s proposals.
The committee will meet again Oct. 28 and 29 in Cheyenne and via YouTube, and will likely discuss the draft bills and resolution.
