At a hearing titled “Playing God with the Weather — a Disastrous Forecast,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), chair of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, addressed concerns about federal involvement in weather modification and geoengineering. Greene argued that the history of these activities is not well understood by the public and called for greater transparency regarding government spending in this area.
Greene’s remarks included references to several historical projects. She cited a 1947 attempt by the military and General Electric to influence a hurricane near Jacksonville, Florida, as well as U.S. Army activities in St. Louis during the 1950s and 1960s involving chemical fog. Greene also mentioned Project Stormfury, which involved cloud seeding to weaken hurricanes in the 1960s and 1970s, and Operation Popeye, an effort to induce monsoons during the Vietnam War.
She expressed concern over potential large-scale commercialization of geoengineering as a response to global warming, warning that significant taxpayer funds could be directed toward research institutions advocating for such measures. Greene also noted that venture capitalists are investing in companies like Make Sunsets, which inject aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight.
Greene stated: “The reality is that the federal government has a long history of experimenting with weather modification. That includes a 1947 attempt by the military and General Electric to intercept a hurricane off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida.
“It includes an event in the 50s and 60s where the U.S. Army admitted to spraying a mysterious chemical fog over a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, which residents now claim it is giving them cancer. It includes Project Stormfury, a series of efforts in the 60s and 70s to weaken hurricanes by seeding clouds with silver iodide.
“And, it includes Operation Popeye, an effort to create monsoons to aid our military efforts during the Vietnam War.
“While these are different events scattered throughout history,a serious campaign to commercialize geoengineering to fight global warming would be a vastly larger enterprise.
“Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars could disappear into the coffers of research universities and the academic scientists within them who beat the drum of global warming alarmism.
“Venture capitalists are already trying to get rich backing companies like Make Sunsets, which inject aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight back into space."
Greene also criticized reliance on scientific consensus for policy decisions: “One thing we learned from Covid is that it’s a mistake to allow the professional scientific community alone to determine federal science policy. The same professional scientific community that closed ranks around the need to close schools and businesses due to Covid is of a single mind when it comes to global warming.
“They are convinced that global warming is such an immediate risk to mankind that it justifies the catastrophic risk of blocking out the sun. ‘It’s for the greater good’ they say.
“I don’t think it’s the job of the federal government to help these people play God with the weather. In fact, I think it’s the job of Congress to protect our people and make sure that weather and climate control experiments and activities do not create adverse unintended consequences for the rest of us.“
James Comer currently serves as U.S. Representative for Kentucky's 1st district after succeeding Ed Whitfield in 2016 (https://comer.house.gov/about). He previously served in Kentucky's House from 2001-2012 before joining Congress (https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=C001108). Comer was born in Carthage, Tennessee in 1972 and resides in Tompkinsville at age 50; he earned his BS from Western Kentucky University in 1993.
