West Virginia : 2026 Regular Session : BILL HB5513

Introduced

🔗 Link to West Virginia website 🔗 Link to Legiscan

To prohibit cloud seeding in WV

Sponsor: Rep Chris Anders & Rep Ian Masters & Rep Laura Kimble

Bill Details

The purpose of this bill is to protect the environment and humans from geoengineering experiments.

GeoLawWatch Bill Summary

HB 5513 would create a new Article 37 within Chapter 22 (Environmental Protection) of the West Virginia Code, establishing a blanket prohibition on all geoengineering activities within or over the state. The bill covers weather modification, cloud seeding, stratospheric aerosol injection, solar radiation modification, and any other deliberate atmospheric polluting activity.

Enforcement is placed under the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The commissioner is required to investigate credible reports of geoengineering and must issue immediate cease-and-desist orders to any entity found in violation. The bill also directs the DEP to investigate reports of excessive electromagnetic radiation or fields across the full spectrum, including radiofrequency, microwave, maser, infrared, laser, and ionising radiation.

Federal and international pushback provisions: If the federal government has approved a geoengineering activity, the DEP must notify the relevant federal agency that the activity cannot lawfully occur within or over West Virginia. The same applies to any foreign state or international body found to be funding or conducting geoengineering -- the DEP must prohibit the activity and issue notice.

Public monitoring and reporting system: The DEP is required to publish quarterly notices in newspapers of general circulation and on its website, encouraging the public to monitor, measure, document, and report geoengineering incidents. Citizens may submit photographs (including location, direction, time, and date), video or audio recordings, lab tests, microscopy, spectrometry, meter readings, and other evidence to the commissioner. Any local or state official who receives information suggesting geoengineering activity must report it to the commissioner within 24 hours.

Definitions are notably broad. "Atmospheric contaminant" includes aerosols, biological and nonbiological agents, chaff, genetically modified agents, metals, radioactive materials, vapours, electromagnetic radiation or fields, mechanical vibration, and particulates of any size. However, normal aircraft engine exhaust from unadulterated certified aviation fuel is explicitly excluded. "Entity" is defined to include individuals, corporations, nonprofits, universities, and any agency or instrumentality of federal, state, or local government, as well as interstate or international governance bodies. Artificial intelligence is separately defined and included as a potential actor in atmospheric polluting activities.

Penalty structure (tiered):

General violations: Civil penalty up to $25,000 per day of violation, plus injunctive relief. For noise-related or unspecified violations, a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for the initial violation and $5,000 per day of continuing violation.
Knowing violations: Felony. Fine up to $25,000 per day of violation, imprisonment of one to five years, or both. Each day constitutes a separate violation.
Hazardous waste violations: Civil penalty up to $25,000 per day plus injunctive relief. Knowing hazardous waste violations carry felony charges with up to $25,000 per day and one to five years imprisonment.
Geoengineering-specific penalty: Any person who knowingly engages in geoengineering is guilty of a felony and is also liable for a civil penalty of not less than $500,000. Each day of knowing geoengineering activity constitutes a separate offence.
Residual penalty: Violations not covered by specific penalty provisions carry civil penalties up to $1,000 for the initial violation and $1,000 per day of continuing violation.
Kanawha County Circuit Court holds concurrent jurisdiction over all civil and injunctive enforcement actions brought by the Attorney General.
The bill preserves the right of private individuals to recover actual compensatory damages.

Unusual provisions: The bill contains internal inconsistencies in its penalty section. While the definitions section establishes "commissioner" and "department" as the relevant authority and agency, the penalty section repeatedly references a "cabinet" and a "secretary" -- terms not defined anywhere in the bill or used elsewhere in West Virginia's DEP statutes. This strongly suggests that the penalty provisions were adopted from another state's code (likely Kentucky, which uses "cabinet" and "secretary" for its environmental agency) without being fully harmonised with West Virginia's statutory framework. This drafting issue could create ambiguity in enforcement if the bill were enacted as introduced.

The bill also includes the Tenth Amendment assertion that West Virginia citizens do not consent to unconstitutional federal or international atmospheric activities, a constitutional claim that would likely face federal preemption challenges.

History

HB 5513 was filed for introduction and introduced in the West Virginia House of Delegates on February 13, 2026 -- the first day of the state's 2026 regular session. It was immediately referred to the Committee on Government Organisation, with a subsequent referral to the Judiciary Committee. Sequential referral means the bill must pass through both committees in order, not just one.

West Virginia's 2026 regular session runs from January 14 through March 14, with a bill introduction deadline of February 23 and a crossover deadline of March 4 (the date by which bills must pass their chamber of origin to be considered by the other chamber). This gives HB 5513 less than three weeks to clear two House committees and pass a full House floor vote before crossover. Bills referred to multiple committees in a short session face significant procedural headwinds, and the tight timeline makes advancement challenging without strong institutional support.

Fri 13 Feb 2026 Filed for introduction
Fri 13 Feb 2026 To Government Organization then Judiciary
Fri 13 Feb 2026 Introduced in House
Fri 13 Feb 2026 To House Government Organization

Consolidated Bill Text

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2026 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 5513

By Delegates Anders, Masters, and Kimble

[Introduced February 13, 2026; referred to the Committee on Government Organization then the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated Section 22-37-1, Section 22-37-2, Section 22-37-3, and Section 22-37-4, relating to protecting the environment and humans from geoengineering experiments; providing definitions; and listing penalties for violations.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 37. PROHIBITION ON ATMOSPHERIC GEOENGINEERING.

Section 22-37-1. Legislative findings.

The Legislature finds that:

(1) Atmospheric polluting activities involving the intentional release of polluting emissions, including weather modification, stratospheric aerosol injection, solar radiation modification, and other forms of geoengineering:

(A) Endanger human health and safety and the environment;

(B) Threaten air, water, soil, and wildlife resources;

(C) Disrupt agricultural operations; and

(D) Potentially interfere with aviation, state security, and the economy of the state;

(2) Pursuant to the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and the inherent right for West Virginia citizens to engage in thoughtful deliberation and determine public policy by voting, the citizens of the state do not consent to any unconstitutional actions or efforts made by the federal government or international bodies that intentionally release polluting emissions into the state's atmosphere, through geoengineering, cloud seeding, weather modification, or any other means; and

(3) To preserve the safe and healthful uses of the state's atmosphere for its people, environment, and agriculture, and to improve beneficial climate efforts, it is necessary to prohibit geoengineering and to provide for enforcement and penalties for violative activities.

Section 22-37-2. Definitions.

As used in this article:

(1) "Aerosol injection" means the release of reflective sulfate or other aerosol particles in the stratosphere by high altitude planes, tethered balloons, high altitude blimps, artillery, or other means;

(2) "Artificial intelligence" or "AI" means systems or machines that mimic human intelligence to perform tasks and that can iteratively improve themselves based on the information they collect;

(3) (A) "Atmospheric contaminant" means any type of aerosol, biological, nonbiological, or hazardous agent, chaff, genetically modified agent, metal, radioactive material, vapor, electromagnetic radiation or field, mechanical vibration, particulate of any size, or any air pollutant regulated by the state, and any combination thereof.

(B) "Atmospheric contaminant" does not include any engine exhaust from an aircraft using unadulterated certified aviation fuel;

(4) "Atmospheric polluting activity" means any deliberate release of an atmospheric contaminant by any human, or by artificial intelligence, or any combination thereof, that occurs in the atmosphere and that may have harmful consequences on human health, the environment, or agriculture;

(5) "Chaff" means aluminum-coated silica glass fibers, typically dispersed in bundles containing millions of inhalable fibers, which break apart and fall to the ground;

(6) "Cloud seeding" means a type of weather modification that involves the deliberate introduction of various substances into a cloud in order to induce or increase precipitation from the cloud;

(7) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the Department for Environmental Protection;

(8) "Department" means the Department for Environmental Protection;

(9) "Entity" means any individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation, quasi-governmental corporation, nongovernmental organization, partnership, association, syndicate, club, college, university, any agency, subdivision, or instrumentality of federal, state, or local government, or any interstate or international governance body;

(10) "Geoengineering" means the intentional manipulation of the environment, through an atmospheric polluting activity, to effect changes to the earth's atmosphere or surface, including but not limited to the practices of weather modification, aerosol injection, and cloud seeding;

(11) "Hazardous" means a substance or physical agent that by its nature is harmful to living organisms, property, or any other valuable interest;

(12) "Individual" means a natural person;

(13) "Maser" means a device using the stimulated emission of radiation by excited atoms to amplify or generate radiation in the microwave range;

(14) "Person" means an individual, business association, financial organization, estate, trust, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

(15) "Physical agent" means a source of energy that may cause injury through excessive exposure, including but not limited to radiofrequency, microwave, and other electromagnetic radiation and fields, barometric pressure, temperature, gravity, mechanical vibration, and sound;

(16) "Release" means any activity that results in the issuance of atmospheric contaminants such as the emitting, transmitting, discharging, or injecting of one or more nuclear, biological, chemical, or physical agents into the ambient atmosphere, whether once, intermittently, or continuously;

(17) "Solar radiation modification" means any attempt to reduce global temperatures by reflecting more sunlight into space or allowing more infrared radiation from earth to escape than would naturally occur; and

(18) "Weather modification" means the changing, controlling, or interfering with or attempting to change, control, or interfere with the natural development of cloud forms, precipitation, barometric pressure, temperature, conductivity or other electromagnetic or sonic characteristics of the atmosphere.

Section 22-37-3. Prohibitions on geoengineering activities.

(a) No entity shall engage in any form of geoengineering activities within or over the state of West Virginia. The commissioner shall investigate any credible reports of geoengineering occurring in the state received under this article, and shall issue an order to any entity that he or she finds is engaging in geoengineering to immediately cease all geoengineering activities. Upon issuing the order, the commissioner shall pursue the imposition of all penalties for engaging in geoengineering authorized under this article and the administrative regulations promulgated hereunder.

(b) If any activity that the department has deemed to be geoengineering has been approved, explicitly or implicitly, by the federal government, the department shall issue a notice to the appropriate federal agency that the geoengineering activity cannot lawfully be carried out within or over the state.

(c) If the department finds that a foreign state or international body funds, in part or in whole, or engages in any geoengineering activity, the department shall prohibit it from engaging in any atmospheric activities in or above the state. The department shall also provide notice to the foreign state or international body that the geoengineering activity cannot lawfully be carried out within or over the state.

(d) The department shall publish quarterly notices in newspapers of general circulation and shall post notices on the department's website, to encourage the public to monitor, measure, document, and report present, potential, and past incidents that may constitute geoengineering activities. An individual who wishes to present evidence of geoengineering may email or otherwise send to the commissioner any of the following:

(1) Evidentiary photographs, each separately titled as an electronic or hard copy document, with the respective location and direction from which the photograph was taken, with its time and date; and

(2) Any other collected samples of video or audio recordings, lab tests, microscopy, spectrometry, metering, and other forms of evidence that the individual may have.

(e) Any local or state official who has received information that causes him or her to suspect geoengineering activity is occurring shall report that information to the commissioner within 24 hours of receiving it.

(f) The department shall investigate reports of excessive electromagnetic radiation or fields caused by human activity in any part of the spectrum, including but not limited to radiofrequency, microwave, maser, infrared, laser, and ionizing radiation to ensure that they are not the result of violations of the requirements of this article or the administrative regulations promulgated hereunder.

Section 22-37-4. Penalties.

(a) Any person who violates the provisions of this article, or who fails to perform any duties imposed by this article, or who violates any determination, permit, administrative regulation, or order of the cabinet promulgated pursuant thereto shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed the sum of $25,000 for each day during which such violation continues, and in addition, may be concurrently enjoined from any violations as hereinafter provided in this article, or any provision of this article relating to noise, or who fails to perform any determination, permit, administrative regulation, or order of the cabinet promulgated pursuant thereto shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed the sum of $5,000 for said violation and an additional civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each day during which such violation continues, and in addition, may be concurrently enjoined from any violations as hereinafter provided in this article.

(b) Any person who knowingly violates this article or who knowingly provides false information in any document filed or required to be maintained under this article, or who knowingly renders inaccurate any monitoring device or method, or who tampers with a water supply, water purification plant, or water distribution system so as to knowingly endanger human life, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $25,000, or by imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than five years, or by both fine and imprisonment, for each separate violation. Each day upon which a violation occurs shall constitute a separate violation.

(1) If any person engages in generation, treatment, storage, transportation, or disposal of hazardous waste in violation of the hazardous waste management provisions of this article or contrary to a permit, order, or rule issued or promulgated under this article, or fails to provide information or to meet reporting requirements required by terms and conditions of a permit or administrative regulations promulgated pursuant to this article, the secretary may issue an order requiring compliance within a specified time period or may commence a civil action in a court of appropriate jurisdiction. The violator shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed the sum of $25,000 for each day during which the violation continues, and in addition, may be enjoined from any violations in a court of appropriate jurisdiction.

(2) Any person who knowingly is engaged in generation, treatment, storage, transportation, or disposal of hazardous waste in violation of this article or contrary to a permit, order, or administrative regulation issued or promulgated under this article, or knowingly makes a false statement, representation, or certification in an application for or form pertaining to a permit or in a notice or report required by the terms and conditions of an issued permit, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $25,000 for each day of violation, or by imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than five years, or by both fine and imprisonment, for each separate violation. Each day upon which a violation occurs shall constitute a separate violation.

(3) Nothing contained in this section shall abridge the right of any person to recover actual compensatory damages resulting from any violation.

(4) Any person who violates any provision of this article to which no express penalty provision applies, except as provided in this article, or who fails to perform any duties imposed by this article, or who violates any determination or order of the cabinet promulgated pursuant thereto shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed the sum of $1,000 for said violation and an additional civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each day during which the violation continues, and in addition, may be concurrently enjoined from any violations as hereinafter provided in this article.

(5) The Circuit Court of Kanawha County shall hold concurrent jurisdiction and venue of all civil and injunctive actions instituted by the Attorney General on behalf of the state for the enforcement of the provisions of this article or the orders and administrative regulations of the cabinet promulgated pursuant thereto, except for any criminal actions arising from or related to this article.

(6) In addition to any other penalties that may apply, any person who knowingly engages in geoengineering activities in violation of this article shall be guilty of a felony, and shall also be liable for a civil penalty of not less than $500,000. Each day that a person knowingly engages in geoengineering activities shall constitute a separate offense.