WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin told reporters Tuesday night that those concerned about geoengineering are justified and that the government should not brand them all as “tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists.”
The EPA unveiled a public database of current research regarding contrails and geoengineering. Americans on June 10. Zeldin said in response to a Daily Caller News Foundation question on Tuesday that geoengineering concerns are “genuine and real,” though some individuals post misleading media online about the subject.
If the government pans people concerned about geoengineering, more people will end up “believing in inaccurate information,” Zeldin argued, adding that there is “nothing” he has “come in contact with” on the subject that has not been added to the website. He advocated for “total transparency” on the topic.
“If the U.S. government takes the position that we aren’t going to communicate with any of these people because we are just going to label them all as tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists, that ends up putting everyone in a worse position,” Zeldin said on Tuesday. “[In this case,] there’s less trust of government, there’s more of a vacuum of information. More people start believing in inaccurate information.”
“Geoengineering encompasses a broad range of activities, including those that intentionally attempt to cool the Earth or remove certain gases from the atmosphere,” the EPA’s website states. Contrails are clouds that form when water vapor condenses and freezes around small particles in aircraft exhaust, according to the UCAR Center for Science Education.
“My policy on this topic is that everything that I know as EPA Administrator, the public should know,” Zeldin continued. “Geoengineering, weather modification, stratospheric aerosol injection, marine cloud brightening… the list goes on where people have questions. And my position is that they deserve answers.”
Zeldin noted that when he asked his team to assemble information on the subject, he had “no bias” and wanted to know “whatever the truth is.”
Zeldin stressed that those concerned about geoengineering should exercise caution online, as he said some posts capture mere airplane condensation or are even AI generated. He listed what he considered extreme examples and noted these posts undermine the credibility of Americans’ genuine weather modification concerns.
“They will put out a picture of a trail coming off of the back of an airplane and saying, ‘look, look, the government’s engaging in stratospheric aerosol injection.’ And anybody who knows anything about the topic understands that it’s just not an accurate statement,” Zeldin said. “Some people who view that every single airplane that is in the sky that has a trail coming out of the back of it is the United States government engaging in population control by pouring chemicals out on Americans… They’re not happy that I stated that it’s condensation from water vapor coming off of the end of hot engine exhaust coming in contact with lower temperature and higher humidity.”
Zeldin added that the agency is only “tracking” one entity currently experimenting with stratospheric aerosol injection, known as Makes Sunsets.
“They’re doing it at an extraordinarily low amount of volume of putting sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere, which I think is crazy,” Zeldin said, adding that the only requirement under federal law is to notify the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Zeldin argued that just because there is only one entity putting sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere does not mean that it shouldn’t be a national conversation.
“What happens if an entity chooses that they want to massively ramp up that effort?” Zeldin asked. “I’m not going to dismiss millions of Americans’ concerns. … I want to help get them answers, and I just want to be honest in explaining what I find out.”
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