The Rain Maker Act

An Act Prohibiting weather modification and solar radiation modification in the state; prohibiting the staging of weather modification at public-use airports; requiring public-use airports to report weather-modification-equipped aircraft; establishing civil and criminal penalties; authorizing enforcement; and providing for an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:

SECTION 1. AS 46 is amended by adding a new chapter to read:

Chapter 18. Weather Modification and Atmospheric Preservation Act

Sec. 46.18.010. Short title.

This chapter may be cited as the Alaska Weather Modification and Atmospheric Preservation Act.

Sec. 46.18.020. Findings and intent.

The people of the State of Alaska find and declare that

(1) Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution mandates that the state’s natural resources, including its waters, fisheries, and wildlife, be managed on the sustained-yield principle for the maximum benefit of the people;

(2) ancient anadromous streams, wild salmon habitat, marine ecosystems, and subsistence food security depend on natural, unmanipulated seasonal hydrographs;

(3) intentional precipitation enhancement presents ecological risk in high-latitude, free-flowing river systems; unseasonal precipitation can mobilize alluvial gravels, scour salmon redds, drive fine sediment into incubating eggs, disrupt juvenile thermal refugia, and contribute to winter rain-on-snow flood events;

(4) Alaska is not operating a water-shortage precipitation-enhancement program; commercial cloud seeding and solar radiation intervention technologies are directed at drought and climate markets outside the state;

(5) unique cold, maritime, and mountain clouds do not make Alaska a default laboratory; they raise the burden of consent;

(6) outdoor dispersal of a substance for weather-modification research is prohibited; purely observational measurement is not;

(7) public-use airports and state land are not default bases for weather modification;

(8) describing an activity as research, training, validation, water generation, glacier protection, or ecosystem restoration does not change its character if the purpose of the activity is weather modification; and

(9) a prohibition on weather modification and solar radiation modification, combined with airport staging prohibitions and reporting of weather-modification-equipped aircraft, is necessary to protect the state's existing hydrology and wild food resources.

Sec. 46.18.030. Definitions.

In this chapter,

(1) “apparatus” means equipment, nozzles, flare racks, dispensers, generators, tanks, or devices designed or deployed to release or inject a substance into the outdoor atmosphere for weather modification;

(2) “cloud seeding” means the release, injection, or dispersion of a chemical, nucleating agent, or other substance into clouds or the outdoor atmosphere to stimulate, enhance, suppress, or alter precipitation, hail, or cloud development;

(3) “department” means the Department of Environmental Conservation;

(4) “knowingly” has the meaning given in AS 11.81.900;

(5) “ordinary aviation support” means the sale or delivery of aviation fuel or lubricants, hangaring, parking, ground handling, or routine inspection or maintenance of an aircraft, if those goods or services are of a kind ordinarily provided to aircraft that are not used for weather modification;

(6) “outdoor atmosphere” means the ambient air within the territorial boundaries and airspace of the state;

(7) “person” has the meaning given in AS 01.10.060 and includes an individual, corporation, research entity, nongovernmental organization, governmental entity, and public officer;

(8) “public-use airport” means an airport, seaplane base, or heliport in the state that is open to the public, including an airport owned or operated by the state, a municipality, or a public corporation;

(9) “scheduled-service airport” means a public-use airport that holds an airport operating certificate under 14 C.F.R. Part 139;

(10) “solar radiation modification” means the intentional release, dispersion, or deployment of sulfur dioxide, sulfate aerosols, reflective particulates, or engineered nanomaterials into the atmosphere to reflect incoming sunlight or alter temperature, climate, or solar radiation;

(11) “substance” means any chemical, aerosol, particulate, gas, liquid, solid, or mixture released or intended to be released into the outdoor atmosphere for weather modification, including silver iodide, dry ice, salt, sulfate, chaff, or engineered nanomaterial; “substance” does not include aviation fuel, lubricants, or engine exhaust used solely for ordinary propulsion or operation of an aircraft or unmanned aircraft;

(12) “unmanned aircraft” means an aircraft operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft;

(13) “weather modification” means the knowing release, dispersion, injection, or deployment of a substance or apparatus into the outdoor atmosphere with the purpose of altering, or attempting to alter, weather patterns, precipitation, cloud formation, hail, snowpack, temperature, climate, or incoming solar radiation; the term includes cloud seeding and solar radiation modification;

(14) “weather-modification-equipped aircraft” means an aircraft or unmanned aircraft fitted with a flare, generator, tank, rack, nozzle, or other apparatus designed or used to release a substance into the outdoor atmosphere for weather modification; the term does not include an aircraft equipped solely for fire suppression, search and rescue, avalanche mitigation, ordinary agricultural pesticide or fertilizer application, distress signaling, or ordinary engine operation.

Sec. 46.18.040. Prohibition of weather modification; penalties.

(a) A person may not knowingly engage in weather modification or solar radiation modification in the state.

(b) A person may not knowingly finance, transport, arm, or equip an apparatus, aircraft, or unmanned aircraft, or knowingly supply a substance or apparatus, for the purpose of weather modification or solar radiation modification in the state.

(c) Ordinary aviation support does not violate (b) of this section unless the person providing the goods or services knows that they are being provided to enable an activity prohibited by (a) of this section.

(d) A state agency, municipality, or political subdivision may not license, permit, fund, sponsor, or engage in weather modification or solar radiation modification.

(e) A natural person who violates (a) or (b) of this section is guilty of a class C felony. A public officer who personally and knowingly authorizes, directs, or engages in a violation of (a), (b), or (d) of this section may be prosecuted as a natural person under this subsection. A governmental entity is not subject to criminal prosecution under this section but is subject to the civil remedies in AS 46.18.070.

(f) Notwithstanding AS 12.55.035, upon conviction under this section

(1) an individual may be fined not more than $500,000; and

(2) a corporation or organization other than a governmental entity may be fined not more than $5,000,000.

(g) It is not a defense that the activity was described as research, training, validation, proof of concept, water generation, glacier protection, ecosystem restoration, or a similar purpose.

(h) This chapter applies to a method, substance, or apparatus whether or not it was in use, named, or invented on the effective date of this chapter.

Sec. 46.18.050. Prohibited use of public-use airports; reporting.

(a) A person may not knowingly use a public-use airport in the state to park, fuel, load, arm, stage, or launch an aircraft or unmanned aircraft to conduct weather modification or solar radiation modification. A violation of this subsection is punishable as a violation of AS 46.18.040.

(b) The operator of a public-use airport, including a scheduled-service airport, shall notify the Department of Public Safety and the department within 48 hours after acquiring actual knowledge that a weather-modification-equipped aircraft is present on the airport. The notice must include, to the extent known:

(1) the date and time the aircraft arrived and, if applicable, departed;

(2) the aircraft type, registration or tail number, and operator name;

(3) a description of the observed apparatus or substance; and

(4) whether the aircraft operated or attempted to operate from the airport.

(c) This section does not apply to

(1) a military aircraft or military airfield to the extent state regulation is prohibited by federal law; or

(2) an aircraft present solely for an activity exempt under AS 46.18.060.

(d) This section does not impose criminal liability on an airport operator, public employee, or airport contractor for the presence of an aircraft on an airport, or for a good-faith failure to know that an aircraft was weather-modification-equipped. Knowingly failing to file a notice required by (b) of this section after acquiring actual knowledge is a class A misdemeanor. Criminal and civil penalties under AS 46.18.040 and 46.18.070 apply to persons who finance, supply, equip, stage, launch, or operate an activity prohibited under AS 46.18.040 or (a) of this section.

(e) This section does not dedicate revenue or restrict an appropriation.

Sec. 46.18.060. Exemptions.

This chapter does not apply to

(1) ordinary commercial, general, or military aircraft flight operations, engine emissions, and airspace transit;

(2) ordinary aviation support that is not provided for the purpose of weather modification or solar radiation modification;

(3) active aerial wildfire suppression, oil-spill response, search and rescue, and emergency life-safety operations conducted under official government authority;

(4) state- or federally authorized avalanche mitigation, including the use of howitzers, Avalaunchers, and explosive safety charges;

(5) flares, smoke markers, and pyrotechnic devices deployed solely for maritime, aviation, or wilderness emergency distress signaling;

(6) permitted industrial dust abatement, agricultural seeding, or pesticide application conducted under existing state or federal permits, if not undertaken for the purpose of weather modification;

(7) laboratory research conducted entirely within an enclosed facility with no release or dispersion into the outdoor atmosphere; or

(8) purely observational, non-dispersive atmospheric measurement science, weather balloons carrying passive instrumentation only, and baseline radar or LIDAR research. The exemption under this paragraph does not apply if the aircraft, balloon, or platform is equipped with apparatus designed to disperse chemicals or particulates into the outdoor atmosphere.

An activity listed in this section is not exempt if it is undertaken for the purpose of weather modification or solar radiation modification.

Sec. 46.18.070. Civil penalties, forfeiture, and injunctive relief.

(a) The attorney general may bring a civil action in superior court to enjoin an ongoing or threatened violation of this chapter and to recover a civil penalty and costs authorized by this section.

(b) In addition to any criminal penalty that may apply, a person who violates AS 46.18.040 or 46.18.050(a) is liable to the state for a civil penalty of not less than $10,000 and not more than $100,000 for each day of violation, plus the costs of investigation, court costs, and environmental remediation.

(c) An Alaska resident adversely affected by an ongoing or threatened violation of this chapter may bring a civil action for injunctive relief in superior court after giving the department and the attorney general at least 30 days’ written notice of the alleged violation, unless irreparable harm would occur before the notice period ends. The court may award reasonable attorney fees and costs to a prevailing party under the Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure.

(d) Upon conviction of a violation of AS 46.18.040 or 46.18.050(a), apparatus, equipment, substances, and unmanned aircraft used to commit the violation are subject to forfeiture under AS 12.55.015(c).

(e) In a civil action under this section, the court may order forfeiture to the state of apparatus, equipment, substances, and unmanned aircraft used to commit a violation of AS 46.18.040 or 46.18.050(a). A manned aircraft is not subject to forfeiture under this chapter solely because the aircraft was present at a public-use airport or was used for transit, fueling, or an activity exempt under AS 46.18.060. A manned aircraft may be forfeited only if the state proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the aircraft was knowingly used as the platform from which a prohibited substance was released.

(f) Property may not be forfeited under (e) of this section if the owner proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the owner did not know, and could not reasonably have known, that the property would be used in a violation of this chapter.

(g) Civil penalties collected under this section shall be deposited in the general fund.

Sec. 46.18.080. Enforcement.

The Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and the department may investigate suspected violations of this chapter. The department may inspect sites, records, apparatus, and aircraft reasonably related to a suspected violation.

Sec. 46.18.090. Construction and severability.

(a) Nothing in this chapter applies to ordinary commercial, cargo, or passenger aviation operations regulated under federal law, if the operation is not weather modification.

(b) This chapter shall be broadly construed to prohibit future technologies, chemical substances, apparatus, or operational methods deployed for weather modification or solar radiation modification.

(c) If a provision of this chapter or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect 90 days after enactment.