State lawmakers are looking to ban non-existent ‘chemtrails.’ It could have real-life side effects.

(CNN) — An unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that claims the US government is controlling the weather, or its citizens, by spraying dangerous “chemtrails” from airplanes has now made its way into several state legislatures where it could manifest into real-life laws.

It’s an example of how unproven and off-the-wall theories are bubbling into mainstream discourse under the Trump administration, many of which sow distrust in the government. This effort in particular could prevent actual scientists and engineers from slowing the breakneck pace of global warming, which is inflicting a devastating toll on Americans in the form of extreme weather.

Florida’s legislature is moving along a bill that would ban geoengineering and weather modification in the state, and an Alabama legislative committee discussed a similar bill last week. Last year, Tennessee lawmakers banned the release of airborne chemicals, which critics called “nonsense.”

Though debunked many times over the years, chemtrail believers say the white condensation lines left behind by airplanes in the sky are filled with toxic chemicals. But the theory has re-manifested itself in a resurgence over controversy around scientists’ efforts for weather modification and geoengineering.

And those who believe in the conspiracy now have a platform from the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

In an X post Sunday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that as states moved “to ban geoengineering our climate by dousing our citizens, our waterways and landscapes with toxins. This is a movement every MAHA needs to support. HHS will do its part.” MAHA refers to Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

“RFK Jr is not new here in pointing out this conspiracy, but he is the highest-level government official, sadly, who has fallen into this particular trap,” climate economist Gernot Wagner told CNN.

Where did this conspiracy theory come from?

The most enticing conspiracy theories often have a dash of truth in them, even if that truth is completely unrelated to the conspiracy being contrived.

That is certainly the case with the chemtrails conspiracy theory, which is based on the premise that aircraft condensation trails, or contrails, contain chemicals for weather modification, controlling citizens’ brains or even biological warfare. Contrails, on the other hand, are essentially clouds created by planes; they are mostly water vapor and small amounts of other trace gases that form in the wakes of high-altitude airplanes.

Purporters of the conspiracy theory question the inconsistent nature of condensation trails, like why only some planes produce them or why they aren’t always there. The truth is it takes a specific combination of humidity and temperature for condensation to form in aircraft exhaust, and those conditions are especially prevalent on clear, cool days when the sky is often cloud-free.

Still, weather modification is a real thing. Cloud-seeding to help rain develop in dry areas is one of the most common examples (though it is still only used in very small scales sparingly around the globe – and the effectiveness of it is debated).

These bills also target geoengineering, a field still in its infancy in which scientists are theorizing ways to counteract the fast-paced warming effects of fossil fuel pollution.

The most well-known of these ideas, called solar geoengineering, involves spraying particles high in the stratosphere, many miles above where planes fly, in an attempt to block out a small percent of the sun’s warming power.

How ‘chemtrails’ went from conspiracy to legislation

Even before Kennedy’s new position, conspiracies about geoengineering and chemtrails ran rampant online. A 2017 study by Dustin Tingley and Wagner, the climate economist, found 60% of geoengineering discourse on social media over the past decade was conspiratorial.

But the chemtrail conspiracy theory was around long before social media, likely originating in the mid-1990s, possibly earlier. And when extreme weather happens, discourse on those conspiracy theories tend to spike, Wagner told CNN.

“We see those weather extremes more and more due to climate change, and I can see how that now gets then connected to this chemtrails conspiracy, especially if people at the highest level of government are suddenly tweeting about this as well,” Wagner said.

A bill limiting geoengineering was first introduced in Rhode Island in 2014, though it ultimately died. The Tennessee bill banning airborne chemicals passed in early 2024.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which devastated parts of the United States in September and October, brought a resurgence.

Some people, notably Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — a Georgia Republican — believed the federal government used non-existent weather manipulation technology to create the hurricane and push it toward certain regions of the country.

Greene posted on X in October, “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done,” seemingly referencing the US government. She posted maps of the hurricane damage path compared to Republican and Democrat election results maps.

The discourse prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to release a fact check titled, “Debunking weather modification claims: No one creates or steers hurricanes; the technology does not exist.”

More state legislation followed the hurricanes.

Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia in late 2024 filed a bill that would criminalize “unauthorized geoengineering or weather modification” with fines up to $100,000 per violation.

Garcia said in March at an Appropriations Committee meeting on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government the bill would allow Florida residents to report suspected geoengineering activity. In her social media posts on X, she tags Kennedy whenever posting about geoengineering or weather modification.

“Many of us senators receive concerns and complaints on a regular basis regarding these condensation trails, a.k.a. ‘chemtrails,’” Garcia said when asked at the March meeting if there were any reports of illegal geoengineering activity. “To many, there’s a lot of skepticism with regards to this. … What I wanted to do with this is try to look through a way to separate fact from fiction.”

Garcia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.

Alabama’s bill was introduced in February and, like Florida’s, would ban weather modification activities. It is currently in committee.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mack Butler, said over email the legislation came from constituents concerned about weather modification.

“After doing some research I learned that some form of weather modification has been taking place for around 80 years,” he wrote.

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