Committee hears public testimony on HB25, a proposed ban on intentional atmospheric disbursements; witnesses advance unverified claims

A public hearing on HB25 drew multiple speakers asserting that intentional atmospheric disbursements — sometimes described as 'chemtrails' or geoengineering — are occurring and harming health, agriculture and wildlife. The bill sponsor described HB25 as a prohibition on intentional disbursement of chemicals for weather modification or solar reflection and said it would create a class B misdemeanor with fines and an air-pollution-control fund to be administered by ADEM.

Several witnesses testified in favor of the bill and described health and environmental harms they attributed to atmospheric disbursement. Dr. Rick Roberts, introduced himself as a retired vascular surgeon and chemical engineer, said retired military experts had concluded that some trails are being sprayed by a portion of the military and cited analyses reporting aluminum in samples. A retired military officer who identified himself as Ted Howard (and later identified himself as Ted Holly in the record) described observing persistent cross-hatched trails and asserted these events had local occurrences. Dr. David Calderwood, a physician and leader of a group that treated COVID-19 patients with repurposed drugs, cited a peer-reviewed paper on aluminum nanoparticles and urged passage. Other commenters urged a favorable report.

Committee members asked for more information; Representative Lance said he was skeptical after consulting material that called such claims speculative and lacking mainstream scientific support. Following public testimony, the committee voted to give HB25 a favorable report. The committee record shows multiple assertions presented as testimony; the committee did not provide independent verification of the technical or scientific claims made by witnesses during the hearing.