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The federal "Clear Skies Act" (H.R. 4403) bans all weather modification activities nationwide with criminal penalties up to 5 years imprisonment and $100,000 fines per violation, while repealing all existing federal authorities that permit such activities and establishing a public EPA reporting system for suspected violations.
A federal study-only bill requiring the Department of Energy to investigate health and environmental effects of federally-connected geoengineering projects, with no regulatory teeth or prohibition provisions—essentially a fact-finding exercise that commits Congress to nothing beyond receiving a report.
This federal bill goes beyond simple prohibition by creating dual reporting systems—one requiring airlines to disclose weather modification equipment on aircraft, another for public violation reports—while simultaneously repealing all existing federal weather modification authorities and banning even federally-funded research on atmospheric intervention.
Rather than prohibiting geoengineering, this federal bill tasks NOAA with building the scientific infrastructure to monitor and assess atmospheric climate intervention proposals, while linking such activities to existing weather modification reporting requirements and emphasising the Montreal Protocol's continued authority over stratospheric protection.
This federal bill tasks the National Academies with developing a research roadmap for atmospheric albedo modification and governance frameworks for that research—explicitly excluding deployment questions—while Congressional findings frame geoengineering as a "higher risk reaction" compared to emissions reduction.