Sen. Mark Finchem supports Sen. John Kavanagh’s SB 1098 because Arizona should not be a testing ground for unaccountable geoengineering experiments that could affect water, agriculture, air quality, and public health.
For years, concerns have grown nationwide about weather modification, cloud seeding, and other climate manipulation schemes being pursued without meaningful public consent or oversight.
SB 1098 repeals outdated statutes that allowed licensing of weather modification and replaces them with a clear ban on intentional geoengineering activities designed to alter weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity in Arizona. The bill draws a firm line between lawful activity and dangerous experimentation, while carving out common-sense exceptions for normal aircraft contrails, lawful emissions not intended to modify weather, and emergency response operations.
The bill establishes real consequences for violations by classifying prohibited geoengineering as a class 4 felony and allowing civil penalties of up to $100,000 per violation. It also directs the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to adopt rules and coordinate enforcement, ensuring that this is not an empty prohibition but a serious protection.
Finchem supports SB 1098 because environmental policy should be transparent, accountable, and grounded in law, not driven by unelected actors experimenting with systems that affect millions of people. Arizona’s air, land, and water are not laboratories.
Bill Info: https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/BillOverview/83789