New Mexico spends almost $2 million on cloud seeding
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
The New Mexico state government is spending almost $2 million on a cloud seeding pilot program to “mitigate the effects of climate change”.
This pilot program “shall not be the basis of any claim of liability.”
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HOUSE BILL 130
56th legislature – STATE OF NEW MEXICO – second session, 2024
INTRODUCED BY Jack Chatfield
AN ACT
RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT; CREATING A CLOUD SEEDING WEATHER MODIFICATION PILOT PROJECT IN THE NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; REQUIRING REPORTING; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] CLOUD SEEDING WEATHER MODIFICATION PILOT PROJECT–CREATED–ADMINISTRATION.–
A. The New Mexico department of agriculture shall create, develop and administer a three-year “cloud seeding weather modification pilot project”.
The purpose of the pilot project is to demonstrate the efficacy of cloud seeding as a mechanism to mitigate the effects of climate change and drought.
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D. All water derived as a result of cloud seeding shall be considered a part of the natural water supply in the same sense as if no cloud seeding project had been conducted, and any water so derived shall not be subject to new appropriations but shall be administered and distributed to users in accordance with existing water rights.
E. The act of cloud seeding pursuant to a project funded in whole or in part by the state of New Mexico or authorized by the New Mexico department of agriculture shall not be the basis of any claim of liability.
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SECTION 3. APPROPRIATION. –One million nine hundred eighty thousand dollars ($1,980,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the board of regents of New Mexico state university for expenditure in fiscal years 2025 through 2027 for the New Mexico department of agriculture to develop and administer a cloud seeding weather modification pilot project.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2027 shall revert to the general fund.”