The Kenai Peninsula Borough now has a way to permit cloud-seeding and other types of geoengineering. That’s after borough assembly members Tuesday enacted a section of code that requires detailed applications from anyone seeking to modify weather on borough land.
The new rules require would-be weather modifiers to obtain a commercial lease or commercial land use permit to use borough land. Among other things, that application would require a description of what type and quantity of chemicals and flares would be used and the frequency and duration of weather modification flights.
[WEB: Before closing out a land lease with the borough, the group engaging in approved weather modification activities on borough land would need to submit a summary of how they complied with borough code.] And the borough now also defines geoengineering and weather modification as the “deliberate intervention in the earth's climate system or atmosphere.”
Assembly approval of the new application process comes about two months after a private company used cloud seeding technology to make rain over the southern Kenai Peninsula. The operation, carried out by the California-based Rainmaker Technology Corporation, created roughly one-hundredth of an inch of precipitation over the project area.
Rainmaker’s cloud-seeding work included using drones to disperse silver iodide in clouds. The iodide helps catalyze ice crystals until the crystals are big enough to fall to the ground as precipitation. The company says it tested in Homer due to high cloud coverage, and envisions deploying the technology in drier areas to help fight water scarcity.
When the company celebrated the results of its operation, details of the full project scope came as a surprise to state and local officials. Borough Mayor Peter Micciche in particular says his administration was misled about what exactly the company planned to do in the skies over Homer. He sponsored the ordinance passed Tuesday with assembly member Lenora Niesen.
“Our ability to limit weather modification and geoengineering is limited to borough lands at this point,” he said. “We know that the FAA controls the skies, and NOAA is the only other one that is related to any sort of – actually, NOAA isn't even approval, it's just information.”
Assembly members also added a requirement that applicants describe the intended outcome of weather modification activities. The new section of code also bans geoengineering outright on borough land designated for casual use, like berry-picking or skiing.
Rainmaker CEO Augustus Doricko says it received all applicable permits and permissions for its cloud-seeding operation. But he agrees the company could have done more front-end public outreach. Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources says it did not – and could not – give the company permission for cloud-seeding because that activity is not addressed in state law.
Last month, the assembly formally asked state lawmakers to ban all forms of weather modification in Alaska, or, at least regulate it. Homer Republican Rep. Sarah Vance has been a vocal critic of Rainmaker’s Kenai Peninsula operation. If re-elected, she says she’ll sponsor a bill establishing clear guidelines for weather modification.
As assembly members in a second-class borough, the local government is limited in what policies it can enact on the issue. The new section of code is effective immediately.
