"Legislation banning the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances” swept through the Republican-dominated senate, and will now be considered by the Republican-dominated house, before then being weighed by Tennessee’s Republican governor. There is also a movement to pass a similar law in Pennsylvania.The Tennessee bill, introduced in the senate by Republican Steve Southerland, does not use the term “chemtrails”. The language in the bill, however – there is talk of the government “intentionally dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere” – directly evokes a decades-old conspiracy theory.Proponents of the debunked chemtrails idea believe that the cloudy white lines created by airplane emissions are chemicals being released into the atmosphere. The idea is that the government, or shadowy private organizations, are pumping out toxic chemicals, with the aim being anything from modifying the weather to controlling a population’s minds.Both the Tennessee and Pennsylvania efforts avoid the term chemtrails, and instead discuss “solar geoengineering” – the idea that the government may disperse matter, typically sulfur, into the air to reflect sunlight and combat climate change – perhaps in an attempt to avoid criticism for engaging in conspiracy theories.Fritts introduced a resolution earlier this year calling for Tennesseeans to “join in a 30-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting” in July “to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee”. That motion passed the house on 5 March, and could be adopted around the same time as the chemtrails legislation."
More at The Guardian (whence the embedded image credit cunaplus/Alamy)
I’m a lifelong 5th-generation Tennessean and dispose this state’s government. If they were REALLY concerned about chemicals, they need look no further than our Mississippi neighbors, whose 5th Circuit court just allowed corporations to continue to poison us with known toxins:
ReplyDeletehttps://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/30/pfas-ban-plastic-containers-court
Just to be clear, the 5th Circuit Court is not a Mississippi court, but a federal appeals court based in New Orleans with jurisdiction over LA, MS, and TX. That court has a long history of being conservative. The court did point out that the EPA can regulate the toxin using section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act. As stated in the article, "section 6 states health risks should be weighed “without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors”." It would appear that the next move (other than the ongoing appeals process) is up to the EPA.
DeleteThe good news is, enforcement will be a breeze!
ReplyDelete"Mexico plans to ban solar geoengineering after rogue experiment"
ReplyDelete"A US startup carried out a geoengineering experiment in Mexico, which the country claims was done without prior notice and consent"
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/01/18/mexico-plans-to-ban-solar-geoengineering-after-rogue-experiment/
I am no supporter of conspiracy theories, especially in 2024 when we have access to more information than ever. Legislatures on both sides of the political spectrum propose and sometimes pass some questionable and even flaky bills. However, I think about all of the toxins currently being released into our environment because they were not banned in the past (see the article cited above in the post by Anonymous, April 1, 2024 at 12:17 PM). With that in mind, wouldn't "legislation banning the “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances” be more effective if it was in place prior to the intentional release of possibly toxic chemicals?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the reaction would have been if Governor Newsom had proposed such a bill in California? Maybe he should.
So exhaling is now illegal in Tennessee?
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for someone to start a lawsuit over that.
Where does crop-dusting fit into this?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.tn.gov/agriculture/businesses/pesticides.html
Deletehttps://psep.tennessee.edu/pesticide-application-using-drones/
DeleteWhat about f@rting? or bad breath? B.O.? the smell of bar-b-que?
ReplyDeleteMight be helpful to have the complete text of the cited paragraph from the amendment to SB 2691 (HB 2063): (https://legiscan.com/TN/amendment/SB2691/id/206766):
ReplyDelete"The intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals,
chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited."
So, if you are flatulating, BBQing, have halitosis, or exhaling "with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight," then this bill might affect you. Otherwise, you are probably OK. Relax.
This an amendment to a bill that decreases, from 180 days to 150 days, the time that the air pollution control board can have more than one vacancy after an appointing authority of the board receives sufficient information to fill the appropriate vacancy before the board is required to report to the government operations.