Committee advances one-year pilot for rainfall enhancement; supporters cite snowpack and crop benefits, opponents raise transparency and cultural concerns

The Senate Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 471, which would appropriate $1,200,000 from the general fund to establish a rainfall enhancement pilot program between the Roosevelt Soil and Water Conservation District and New Mexico State University to study cloud seeding effects.

Sponsor Senator Woods described the bill as a pilot to “study the effects of rainfall enhancement programs in the state,” with New Mexico State University’s state climatologist reporting results annually. “We’ll be doing that,” Woods said, noting the appropriation amount and university partnership.

Witnesses and experts testified in support. Eddie Vigil, registered lobbyist for the New Mexico Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, explained that soil and water conservation districts are political subdivisions and said Roosevelt’s efforts had already shown promising initial results. Charlie Marcus, representing the Roosevelt Soil and Water Conservation District, said the district had conducted flights in June, July and August and that New Mexico State University validated the work.

Meteorologist George Bomar, a retired state climatologist who has advised Roosevelt Soil and Water Conservation District, described technical results from other programs. “We’ve used Doppler weather radar to verify that seeded storms are living 44% longer than the neighboring storms that are not seeded,” Bomar said. He also said the seeded storms’ rain area is nearly 50% larger and that total rainwater volume can be more than double that of unseeded storms. Bomar said decades of studies have not shown environmental risks from seeding materials such as silver iodide.

Supporters, including the Association of Conservation Districts and several soil and water conservation district lobbyists, urged the committee to fund the New Mexico pilot. They framed the program as proven in other states and a tool to augment snowpack and growing-season rainfall for agriculture.

One public commenter, Lorraine Villegas, told the committee she opposed the bill and asked for greater transparency about seeding materials. “I'm wondering if graphene is going to be used,” Villegas said; she also raised concerns about liability language and possible proprietary or trade-secret exemptions for materials and methods.

Committee members asked technical and policy questions. Senator Townsend and others sought confirmation of the scale of benefits reported in other states; Bomar described snowpack increases as a conservative 10% estimate and said rainfall from seeded storms has been measured at roughly 2.3 times that of unseeded storms in some plains experiments. Committee members also asked about pilot duration; sponsor Charlie Marcus said the sponsor reduced a three-year request to one year to try to secure funding this session and to return with New Mexico-specific data to support recurring funding.

Tribal consultation and cultural concerns were raised. Senator Charlie asked whether tribes, nations and Pueblos had been consulted; Marcus said the interstate stream commission application process includes input from Indian nations and that the district had received comments but no negative input to date. Senator Charlie, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, nevertheless asked for consideration of indigenous knowledge and cultural impacts on religious practices related to rain.

Following discussion and a recorded roll call that included both affirmative and at least one opposing vote, the committee recommended a do-pass on SB 471 as a pilot appropriation. The bill advances with a one-year study and a $1.2 million appropriation for the pilot.