Louisiana among at least 12 states seeking "chemtrail" ban
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An airplane leaves contrails — not chemtrails — in the sky. Photo: Robert Michael/dpa via Getty Images
Louisiana state lawmakers have sent a bill to Gov. Jeff Landry's desk seeking to ban "chemtrails."
Why it matters: They don't exist.
Zoom in: Though Louisiana Sen. Mike Fesi's bill doesn't specifically use the term "chemtrails," lawmakers used it during discussion of the legislation before giving it their OK, Fox 8 reports.
- Fesi's bill bans the intentional release of any chemical into the state's atmosphere "for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight."
- That language is typically associated with chemtrail conspiracy theories.
The big picture: "Chemtrails" is the term for a conspiracy theory that began in the 1990s, which says the white lines left behind by some aircraft are chemical releases.
- The theories began circulating in the 1990s, but kicked back up again in the post-pandemic rush of online misinformation, the BBC says.
Reality check: "'Chemtrails" are not real. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says so. Scientists say so. An increasing number of investigative journalistic accounts say so," according to researchers Dustin Tingley and Gernot Wagner, writing in a peer-reviewed study.
- Rather, what folks on the ground are seeing are called "contrails," Tingley and Wagner say, which are "made up of water vapor [and] have been a byproduct of aviation ever since humans began to fly using jet engines."
What they're saying: "I'm really worried about what is going on above us and what is happening, and we as Louisiana citizens did not give anyone the right to do this above us," Rep. Kimberly Landry Coates said as she shared her support for the bill, according to the AP.
- Coates acknowledged the legislation might "seem strange."
- "With so many unknowns around geoengineering and atmospheric interventions, we're taking a stand for transparency, public health, and natural balance," Fesi said to the Times-Picayune in a statement. "Senate Bill 46 ensures that decisions about our air and climate are made responsibly."
More than a dozen other states have introduced similar legislation, AP reports.