After destructive hurricanes hit Florida and the southeast this summer, conspiracy theories spread claiming that Democrats were controlling the storms to prevent people there voting for Donald Trump. Though no-one can in fact cause or direct the course of hurricanes, Republicans in the state plan to ban "weather modification".
The bill was filed on November 20 by [Ileena] Garcia, a Republican who has served in the Florida State Senate since 2020. The "Weather Modification Activities" bill sets out that "the injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather, or the intensity of sunlight is prohibited."
Who might the law even affect? Perhaps farmers who hope to trigger rainfall during droughts. The techniques they use are unproven (seeding clouds with silver iodide) or pseudoscientific (cloudbusting).
On Twitter, Garcia complained that "at no point have I suggested that recent hurricanes were provoked by weather modification techniques," but in the next sentence said that the bill was to "raise awareness surrounding these issues."
Newsweek, sympathetic as it is to right-wing causes, points out that Garcia's delusional thinking predates the viral nonsense about hurricanes. Specifically, her thing is chemtrails.
The language of the Weather Modification Activities bill – specifically its reference to chemicals and chemical compounds – suggests that this bill could be referring to the Chemtrails conspiracy. On X, Garcia also reposted a tweet that suggested the bill had been introduced as part of the wider conspiracy theory.
"Florida has introduced a new bill aiming to ban chemtrails and weather modification activities that alter atmospheric conditions, including temperature, weather, or sunlight intensity. Spearheaded by Senator Ileana Garcia, the legislation comes amid claims that hurricanes Helene and Milton, which caused massive destruction in Florida, were deliberately manipulated," read the tweet.
Given that "chemtrails" are in fact condensation, Garcia's law suggests a ban on air travel in the state.
Garcia was in the news not long ago for saying that "gay is not a permanent thing." She became a Florida state Senator only because someone with the same name as her opponent was paid to run in the election, dividing his vote. From Wikipedia:
In June 2020, Garcia filed to run against incumbent Democrat José Javier Rodríguez in Florida's 37th State Senate District. On the first count, Garcia beat Rodríguez by a narrow margin of 31 votes; the lead increased to 34 after a recount.
Garcia's election then came under immediate scrutiny by local news outlets for the candidacy of independent candidate Alex Rodríguez, who shares the same last name as José Javier Rodríguez and is an acquaintance of former Republican State Senator Frank Artiles. Alex Rodríguez did not campaign but received 6,382 votes from voters who may have been confused about who they were voting for. It was widely acknowledged that his candidacy was decisive in the outcome of the election.
On March 17, 2021, Artiles was accused of having paid $44,708.03 to Alex Rodríguez before and after the election in order for him to run as a false candidate in order to siphon off votes from candidate José Javier Rodríguez. His house at Palmetto Bay was searched, and he surrendered the next day to the Miami-Dade County Jail.
This year, however, she won handily. Her time is now.
