GeoLawWatch: Tracking Weather & Climate Legislation

Bill summary (AI generated)

Senate Bill 430 (SB430), introduced in the 2025 legislative session of the 60th Oklahoma Legislature, aims to institute a complete prohibition on the intentional manipulation of weather and sunlight within the state's borders, simultaneously removing the existing regulatory system for such activities.
SB430 was authored by Senator Sacchieri, with Representative Boles as the principal House author, and Senators Jett and Frix as coauthors. It was introduced on February 3, 2025, and referred to the Energy Committee on February 4, 2025. If passed, the act is scheduled to become effective on November 1, 2025.
Key Points and New Laws Proposed by SB430
SB430 establishes a new section of law (Title 27A, Section 2-5-131) covering two primary components: a total prohibition on atmospheric manipulation and the elimination of the old regulatory structure.
1. Total Prohibition on Modification Activities
The bill prohibits specific activities within Oklahoma's borders:
• The Intentional Act: The intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus into the atmosphere is banned.
• The Express Purpose: This ban applies if the act is undertaken with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of sunlight.
This prohibition is broad and covers several scientific categories of atmospheric intervention:
• Weather Modification: Activities intended to modify regional or local weather patterns, such as cloud seeding. Cloud seeding typically involves adding small particles to the lower atmosphere to increase precipitation or decrease hail.
• Solar Geoengineering (SRM): Activities intended to cool the Earth by modifying the amount of sunlight reaching the surface. This includes techniques like Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI), which involves adding small reflective particles (like sulfur dioxide, or SO2) to the upper atmosphere (the stratosphere) to reflect incoming sunlight.
2. Repeal of Existing Weather Modification Act
SB430 proposes to repeal 23 sections of the Oklahoma Weather Modification Act (82 O.S. 2021, including Sections 1087.1 through 1087.20).
This action would completely eliminate the state's current legal framework that has defined and regulated weather modification since its inception. The repealed sections include the provisions for:
• The definition of "weather modification" as changing or controlling cloud forms or precipitation in the troposphere (the lowest layer of the atmosphere).
• The authority of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to establish regulations, conduct studies, and cooperate with other agencies.
• The requirement for any person or corporation to obtain a license (which required a $100.00 fee) and a separate permit to engage in modification activities.
• The original penalties for violations, which constituted a misdemeanor punishable by a fine between $100.00 and $1,000.00 for each continuing day.
Enforcement and Penalties
Unlike measures that rely on military intervention, SB430 utilizes conventional criminal penalties to enforce the new prohibition.
The bill establishes a clear penalty for violations:
• Any person convicted of violating the prohibition shall be found guilty of a misdemeanor in the first degree.
• The punishment for a violation is set as a fine not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00).