Cloud Seeding Experiment in Idaho
Cloud Seeding Experiment in Idaho
Should state agencies and for-profit companies be given special liability exemptions for experimental projects carried out in an open-air environment? Where there is risk, there must be liability.
Guest Post: By Sara Allstot
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Last Update: 11/12/24
Should state agencies and for-profit companies be given special liability exemptions for experimental projects carried out in an open-air environment?
Where there is risk, there must be liability.
Quick Index
Cloud Seeding Experiment in Idaho
Should state agencies and for-profit companies be given special liability exemptions for experimental projects carried out in an open-air environment? HB 266, which passed the Idaho Legislature in 2021, states: “The act of cloud seeding pursuant to a project funded in whole or in part by the state of Idaho or authorized by the state water resource board shall not be the basis of any claim of liability, including but not limited to trespass or public or private nuisance, and shall not require any state or local permits.”
This clause appears to provide liability protection to state agencies like Idaho Department of Water Resources, publicly traded companies like Idaho Power, and private companies like Let It Snow, as well as any other state contracted company.
Would liability protection be expected to promote more rigorous testing and robust safety requirements…or allow potentially risky experimentation?
Interestingly, a 1/30/24 Boise Public Radio article titled “Idaho experiments with new way to boost snowfall in warming world” notes, “Idaho Power has been experimenting with a new material, liquid propane, that can seed clouds...”
Why a Liability Release?
What good is a program that requires liability protections? Where there is risk, there must be liability. Many Idahoans were alarmed with this language and wondered why citizens and private property rights were potentially put in harm’s way for an experimental program.
Cloud seeding is performed by either ground generators or aerial application. Neither method allows Idahoans to opt-out. Citizens began to wonder why cloud seeding operators need liability exemptions.
Risk of accident
According to a 2023 Idaho Aviation accident Score Card (IAASC) report, “Aircraft accidents increased from twenty-four (24) in 2020 to thirty-eight (38) in 2021 – a 35% jump.”
Did Idaho Power, Idaho Water Resources, and cloud seeding stakeholders acknowledge aviation risk and ask for liability exemptions?
Risk of environmental impacts
A 2016 study published by the National Library of Medicine found “cloud seeding may moderately affect biota living in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems if cloud seeding is repeatedly applied in a specific area and large amounts of seeding materials accumulate in the environment.” The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) must develop and test accumulation levels of all chemical agents used in cloud seeding. This includes silver iodide (AgI) and impacts of liquid propane as well as all trace chemicals.
HB 266 allows cloud seeding operators to experiment without “state or local permits.” No permits and no liability for cloud seeding operators only increased public skepticism in the safety of the program.
Risk of infringement on private property rights
Figure 1 below shows where cloud seeding generators are located and flight maps of aerial cloud seeding. If your property is located near these generators or within flight paths, ask yourself why cloud seeding operations “shall not be the basis of any claim of liability, including but not limited to trespass or public or private nuisance.”
Possible flooding
Idaho Power weather modification application dated 11/1/2021-4/30/2022 outlines termination procedures in place to suspend or stop the program when certain conditions arise. Pages 4-6 state the safeguards Idaho Power will take in the event of potential flooding. By their own admission, there is risk of material damage due to flooding. But is it responsible to place the risk burden on the citizens in case of accidental operator error or unknowingly contributing to environmental damage?
Documents retrieved through a FOIA request confirm the cloud seeding program was terminated in the Wood basin area:
“As of 3/17/23 due to SWE levels in excess of 130% of normal and water supply forecasts greater than 125% of normal. The suspension includes generators and aircraft flight tracks that would target the Wood basin…”
Then two short months later, reports of flooding and evacuations took place in the Wood River Valley:
“Update May 16 at 4 p.m.: The Blaine County Sheriff has issued a mandatory evacuation for eight houses on War Eagle Dr. in Hailey, plus a pre-evacuation notice for residences on seven streets in Hailey's Della View neighborhood, effective Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.
According to the National Weather Service, flooding is expected to pick up in the Wood River Valley this week and next.
Overnight temperatures in Hailey this week are forecast to be at least in the upper 40s — about 10 to 15 degrees above normal. Jack Messick with the National Weather Service in Pocatello said that means steady snowmelt.
“All it does is contribute to melt at a fairly fast rate," he said.”
Were temperature shifts considered when earlier season cloud seeding took place? Did cloud seeding operators contribute to runoff flooding?
A recent 2023/2024 NOAA report from Conni Owen states,
“Idaho Power has created a new daily-updated long-term suspension criteria named the Flooding Index.”
It goes on to say,
“Drawbacks to SWSI include [including only two of their four bullets]:
Each streamgage has a different SWSI threshold which makes it harder to interpret at a glance.
Can be difficult to maintain due to database dependencies.”
Did Idaho Power make a new flood index for suspending operations after flooding occurred last season? This brings some additional questions to mind:
Did Idaho Power and Conni Owen (Let it Snow) know last season’s cloud seeding program contributed to flooding and did they revise their termination protocol accordingly?
Was the previous flood index deemed insufficient after previous flooding events?
Is Idaho Power’s switch to a new index working?
Ramping up experimentation
Idaho Power reportedly used ”liquid propane (test generator that will vary dispersal rates for testing purposes)” in their 2021-2022 NOAA application. The public is not provided with information as to how much liquid propane was applied.
In 2023, Idaho Department of Water Resources included in their presentations (provided on a Google Drive link from IDWR) that they sought opportunities to seed with propane. Perhaps a more transparent notification process would include sending public notices or posting public notices before the experiment is rolled out.
Idahoans should be made aware of any experimental “test” Idaho Power or any cloud seeding operator performs.
02/21/2024 UPDATE: A recent public records request reveals that liquid propane is being used at a rate of 10 gallons per hour. Six generators are mapped as an LP (liquid propane) and Agl (silver iodide) site. Methanol is added to the propane to “make a 2 percent solution of propane and methanol.”
Possible chemical damage
The ongoing testing of how silver iodide impacts our environment is a responsible step to assure Idahoans long-term accumulation damage is not taking place.
Where are the protection layers to require the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) test and report on seeded basins?
Due to the lack of public access to test reports or the failure to test, this was an important protection measure many Idahoans are seeking.
Kala Golden at Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) stated:
“Idaho’s DEQ measured silver in the seeded basins of Idaho and found silver levels to be below natural background levels of silver in the environment; with no way to even measure it, it was not considered to be of environmental concern, and outside the scope of DEQ. That said, we certainly recognize that over time with the operation of long-term programs, things have the potential to change; because of that, we are looking at repeating our silver sampling efforts in seeded basins over time, to monitor this long term.”
A FOIA request to DEQ found that no such records were found, and no testing procedures are in place. DEQ states:
“I’ve personally connected with all our departments within the agency and none of them have done the testing indicated by Kala Golden.”
The response provided by Kala Golden suggests that DEQ did not actually do any testing, since the likely levels of silver would not be discernible from any background concentrations in surface waters. Golden stated:
"We don’t have any information regarding this and are not aware of any results that Department of Water Resources believes us to have.”
A reasonable requirement is that DEQ be involved in testing. Additionally, with the new information obtained on liquid propane and methanol use, an independent analysis must take place to carefully assess current and future experimentation.
Usage quantities increased
Older NOAA reports show 7 or 8 grams per hour dispersal of silver iodide. Newer reports show 20 grams per hour. Why the increase?
Some studies indicate over-seeding can decrease moisture. And without required ongoing testing, how will we know what the accumulation levels are?
Chemicals possibly unreported
Earlier NOAA reports show that cloud seeding operations used several chemicals in their application — silver iodide, ammonium iodide, ammonium perchlorate, sodium perchlorate, and acetone (Conni Owen’s 2010 application for Eastern Idaho). However, current reports show only silver iodide. NOAA guidelines state in section 6 of the application to provide the “description of weather modification apparatus, modification agents, and their dispersal rates, the techniques employed, etc.”
Many citizens wonder if all ingredients are being disclosed or only those which “modify” the cloud.
Transparency?
All US weather modification programs must submit a report, interim, and final report to NOAA. According to NOAA’s website, “Submissions will usually be available in the repository within two (2) months after the end of the fiscal quarter.” But we found:
The database is a repository of PDF reports without searchable document fields. Therefore, the reports give limited information.
Reports show a large timespan, usually a 5–6-month window, in which cloud seeding happened.
Interim and final reports only show how many days within the month cloud seeding took place, but do not provide exact dates of seeding.
The public should be notified of these dates and public hearings should be held as other states have modeled. With any open-air experimentation, the public must be made aware of all details of the trial.
Notification requirement
The cloud seeding program is a potential infringement on your private property rights, but you can’t opt-out and are not notified before the spraying takes place. Another reasonable requirement other states dutifully take are public hearings and publishing notice of cloud seeding spraying in a newspaper two consecutive weeks prior to the program start. Idaho currently has no such public notification service.
What’s next? A more responsible model
We submitted a bill modeled along Montana’s better method of notification, permit, licensing, and placing a level of liability on the cloud seeding operator. Each recommendation was reasonable and responsible. Our additions to HB 266 vastly improved the likelihood of public confidence in the cloud seeding program and rightly asked cloud seeding operators to assume some of the liability.
Unfortunately, our bill was not heard during the 2024 legislative session. However, we look forward to working with IDWR, Idaho Power, Let it Snow, and all other stakeholders after the session to improve the cloud seeding program in Idaho.
Please, spread the word and take action.
TAKE ACTION: Call your representative and ask that liability protections be removed for those experimenting with weather modification in Idaho!
Links
Cited in this Article
HB 266: Read
IDAHO AVIATION ACCIDENT SCORE CARD (IAASC): Read
Cloud Seeding Reports in the Media
Floods in Hailey
NOAA Reports
Idaho Department of Water Resources / Idaho Water Resource Board Google Drive Link Report (CS In Idaho 2023.pptx - Google Slides): Read
2016 Report from National Library of Medicine: Potential risk of acute toxicity induced by AgI cloud seeding on soil and freshwater biota: Read
July 2020 Water Policy Interim Committee (Jason Mohr): Final Report to the 67th Montana Legislature. HJ40 Seeding Clouds: Read
Safety Data Sheets
For more information on liquid propane, methanol, and silver iodide, safety data sheets are included below.
Additional References (alphabetical)
Several states are taking up the mantle against geo-engineering / weather modification. Find the latest news at ZeroGeoengineering 🆕
Illinois
Kentucky
Minnesota
Missouri
New Hampshire
North Dakota (Mountrail and Williams Counties) 🆕
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee 🆕
Children’s Health Defense: What Is Sprayed in Our Skies? (07/05/24, video 53 min): Watch 🆕
Cloud Seeding in Idaho with Kresta Davis on “The Ranch Podcast” (07/27/24, video 35 min). Interview with Kresta Davis, Senior Manager of Water Resources for Idaho Power: Watch 🆕
The Highwire: Search for Geoengineering articles: Search 🆕
Idaho Department of Water Resources: Read
Materials IDWR is using to justify or market their cloud seeding program: Read
Idaho Power: Read
Let It Snow is mentioned in “Opinion: Snow farming season starts” By
Jan Neish Guest (11/24/23). Conni Owen is listed as Let It Snow, Inc. Bookkeeper, Dubois, ID: Read
Liquid Propane (Wikipedia): Read
Petitions to Oppose Cloud Seeding in Idaho (05/21/24 update) 🆕
NOTE: Petition managers often send additional messages, but you can 1) Sign anonymously and 2) Unsubscribe from follow-up messages.Silver Iodide (Wikipedia): Read
SWE (Snow Water Equivalency): Read
Dr. Kevin Stillwagon: Look, up in the sky!…could it be geoengineering? (07/16/23): One of the best articles about geoengineering, from a long-time airline pilot: Read 🆕
Streamgage: Read
SWSI (Surface Water Supply Index): Read
U.S. Military Sprays Toxic Pesticides in U.S. Residential Areas (07/19/24 - records revealed by ICAN FOIA request): Read 🆕
Zero Geoengineering — “Geoengineering is planetary-scale environmental engineering of our atmosphere, our weather, the oceans, and the Earth itself” Read 🆕