EPA head promises 'total transparency' on geoengineering and contrails as weather conspiracy theories swirl

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday appeared to nod to conspiracy theories that have swirled around recent extreme weather events, directing people to the agency’s website for science-based information on geoengineering and contrails.

In a post on X, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that people “have legitimate questions about contrails and geoengineering, and they deserve straight answers.”

“We’re publishing everything EPA knows about these topics on these websites,” he wrote in a news release Thursday that promised “total transparency with the American public.”

“EPA shares the significant reservations many Americans have when it comes to geoengineering activities," he said.

The new websites offer a variety of information that appears to stick closely to generally accepted definitions and science around geoengineering and the government’s ongoing research on contrails. Some sections even debunk the more outlandish claims of government weather control.

“Has large-scale solar geoengineering deployment already happened?” the EPA’s new “Frequent Questions” section asks, answering: “No. The U.S. government is not engaged in any form of outdoor solar geoengineering testing (e.g., small-scale experiments designed to study injection technologies) or large-scale deployment (e.g., intentional use of SRM to cool the Earth).” SRM refers to solar radiation modification.

Severe weather events have hammered parts of the United States in recent days. In Texas, at least 120 people have died and 173 are still missing after a devastating flood wiped out at least six communities July 4. Four days later, in New Mexico, at least three people died after a flood in Ruidoso, a resort town already susceptible to mudslides and runoff after two catastrophic fires last year.

Scientifically baseless claims of weather control have become an increasingly common reaction to extreme weather, moving from the fringe and into some mainstream discourse. Many of these claims center on fears of government control of the weather, with some pointing to technologies like cloud seeding, a technique used to increase rain and snowfall. Others offer a vague assertion that whatever is happening to the weather is not natural.

“Fake weather. Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake,” Kandiss Taylor, a Republican congressional candidate in Georgia, said in a July 5 post on X about the Texas flood, now pinned on her page.

Floodwaters left vehicles, equipment and other debris scattered in Louise Hays Park in Kerrville, Texas, on Saturday. (Eric Vryn / Getty Images)

The inclusion of contrails, a natural phenomenon from aircraft or rockets, also seemed to point to long-running conspiracy theories about “chemtrails,” which have included repeatedly debunked claims of shadowy programs meant to poison Americans.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeated chemtrail misinformation, welcomed Zeldin’s move.

“Im so proud of my friend Lee Zeldin and President Donald Trump for their commitment to finally shatter the Deep State Omerta regarding the diabolical mass poisoning of our people, our communities, our waterways and farms, and our purple mountains, majesty,” he wrote in a post on X in reply to Zeldin.

The EPA resources Zeldin pointed to, however, offered no evidence of a diabolical plot.

The new EPA page on contrails seeks to address “myths and misconceptions that have persisted for decades,” according to the release. The page says that sometimes, chemicals are intentionally “sprayed from aircraft for legitimate purposes like firefighting or farming” and that the “federal government is not aware of there ever being a contrail intentionally formed over the United States for the purpose of geoengineering or weather modification.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it is against its policy to comment on statements made by anyone outside the agency but later added that it is "aware of recent threats against weather radar sites and is working with local and other authorities in monitoring the situation closely.”

The National Weather Service, the Department of Health and Human Services and the EPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Solar geoengineering activities involve cooling the Earth by reflecting sunlight into space through the dispersal of small particles into the upper atmosphere or by increasing the size and brightness of clouds over the ocean, among other ideas.

Meteorologist Matthew Cappucci noted that any claims that current geoengineering technologies can cause or worsen severe weather are false.

“The conspiracy theories swarming around on social media have been disappointing, particularly considering elected officials have been pushing them,” he said. “The conspiracies have no scientific basis, and even a shred of basic scientific literacy debunks them.”

Still, claims of weather-control technology, once confined to relatively fringe circles, have gained some traction in the Republican Party. In some states, conservative politicians have passed laws that allude to fringe ideas and seek to ban geoengineering, which is used to counteract the effects of climate change.

After Hurricanes Milton and Helene last year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., claimed “they can control the weather.” On Saturday, she said she was introducing a bill that “prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity.”

“We must end the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering,” she wrote.

A destroyed home after Hurricane Milton in St. Pete Beach, Fla., in October. (Giorgio Viera / AFP - Getty Images)

Greene added that Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., is a co-sponsor. Burchett has spread similarly bizarre claims about extreme weather.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Greene said that the congresswoman "has long discussed this issue" and that the bill was not related to the Texas flooding.

In a follow-up email, Greene said she spoke with Zeldin and was encouraged by his move, adding that she looks forward to pursuing her legislation and is happy the topics are getting attention.

"This is an uncontrolled experiment being carried out in our skies without consent. It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it must stop," she said in the email.

Burchett's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Following Milton and Helene, the NOAA released a fact sheet in October 2024 to try to debunk “weather modification claims” that swelled after those two storms decimated communities in Florida and North Carolina. In it, the agency said that it “does not fund or participate in cloud seeding or other weather modification projects.”

Zeldin’s nod toward more fringe explanations for extreme weather comes as the Trump administration has cut funding for climate change research and removed the website that hosted the government’s climate assessments. President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax, even as scientists have increasingly found strong evidence connecting the growing severity and frequency of extreme weather to global warming.

Decades of research into weather modification has at times become fodder for conspiracy theorists.

From 1962 to 1982, NOAA was involved in a project called STORMFURY that sought to determine whether hurricane intensity could be modified. The research was unsuccessful at altering hurricane intensity and was discontinued. NOAA hasn’t attempted similar research since, according to the fact sheet.

Cloud seeding is a weather modification technology currently in use. The practice has been around since the 1950s and typically involves spraying silver iodide into clouds to draw water out of the atmosphere and produce extra snow or rain. Currently, cloud seeding programs are primarily used in Western states to boost water supplies, and companies are required to file notices before implementing them.

“Cloud seeding doesn’t make water; it helps clouds in marginal environments to release 5-15% more moisture. But in Texas, there was already 100% humidity, extreme moisture and storms. The clouds didn’t need any help,” Cappucci said.

The spread of these claims has coincided with an uptick in threats directed at meteorologists.

While geoengineering is a legitimate scientific endeavor, claims about its ability to control major weather patterns or create severe weather are not grounded in reality. Most geoengineering options are theoretical and untested. Federal researchers have taken only a few small steps toward studying their feasibility, and atmospheric scientists say there is no evidence of any large-scale programs.

Last year in Alameda, California, a small-scale testing project of a form of geoengineering called marine cloud brightening by academic scientists was shut down after community outcry, despite researchers demonstrating that the actions were harmless.

Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert explained that conspiratorial thinking usually spikes during moments of collective fear and uncertainty, especially during weather events in which people feel powerless.

“Conspiracy theories offer an emotionally satisfying narrative: They restore a sense of control by framing events as intentional acts by powerful agents rather than random, chaotic phenomena,” Alpert told NBC News. “In this sense, ‘someone is doing this to us’ feels more tolerable than ‘no one is in control.’”

However, while some view the EPA’s move as an act of transparency, others believe it’s merely the latest political maneuver to avoid critical environmental issues.

“Some people have ‘questions’ about whether birds are real — will that be your next project?” Rep. Don Beyer D-Va., said in response to Zeldin’s Thursday morning post on X teasing the EPA guidelines. “How much taxpayer money will you be spending on this?”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com