2022 -- H 7787

========

LC004842

========

     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

____________

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- THE CLEAN ATMOSPHERE ACT

     Introduced By: Representatives Quattrocchi, Price, Nardone, Roberts, and Bennett

     Date Introduced: March 03, 2022

     Referred To: House Environment and Natural Resources

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. TITLE 23 of the General Laws entitled "HEALTH AND SAFETY" is hereby

amended by adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 23.8

THE CLEAN ATMOSPHERE ACT

     23-23.8-1. Short title.

     This chapter shall be known and may be cited as "The Clean Atmosphere Act".

     23-23.8-2. Legislative intent.

     (a) It is the legislative intent to preserve the safe, peaceful use of Rhode Island's atmosphere

for people, the environment, and agriculture, and to expand upon climate efforts, by regulating

weather modification and other large-scale, atmospheric activities and prohibiting those which are

harmful.

     (b) The general assembly finds that many atmospheric activities harm human health and

safety, the environment, agriculture, aviation, security, and the economy of the State of Rhode

Island. It is, therefore, the intention of this legislature to regulate hazardous atmospheric activities

as further set forth by the terms and provisions of this chapter.

     23-23.8-3. Findings of fact.

     (a) Background: earthly life, or "bios", is a system that can be impaired and broken by

perturbations such as human activities that are xenobiotic, i.e., foreign to life. The extant damage

from pollutants and other harmful human activities is incalculable, and the state of earth's biotic

system is widely reported as catastrophic and in urgent need of protective action.

     (b) Scope: Inclusive of solar radiation management (SRM), carbon dioxide removal

(CDR), and other techniques, hazardous emissions activities are diverse, varying greatly in their

characteristics and consequences. Included herein are anthropogenic atmospheric activities, and

may involve ground-based, underwater, and atmosphere-based activities, including, without

limitation, aerosol injection, cloud-seeding and other deployments by facilities such as aircraft,

rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones of all sizes down to large pico balloons,

wireless infrastructures, ships and submarines.

     (c) Scope of regulatory authority: All atmospheric activities require state licensing.

     (d) SRM activities include, without limitation, aerosol injection such as:

     (1) Solar shields or atmospheric sunscreens where reflective materials are injected into the

stratosphere with the intention of increasing albedo. These include, without limitation, sulfur

dioxide (SO2), sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3);

     (i) SO2 and H2SO4: Sulphate releases produce toxic sulfate clouds. According to the

journal Geophysical Research Letters, SO2 injected into the atmosphere slowly converts to H2SO4

to produce the adverse effects of ozone layer reduction and radiative forcing or heating of the lower

stratosphere through reflection and absorption of terrestrial heat. The U.S. Clean Air Act (42

U.S.C. § 7401 et seq. (1970)) is focused on reducing SO2 and H2SO4, the primary components of

acid rain. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), SO2 penetrates deeply

into sensitive parts of the lungs, causing susceptibility to pathogens, and harms the environment.

     (ii) Al2O3: According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Al2O3 causes

respiratory tract, eye, and skin irritation as well as organ damage and bone abnormalities,

particularly with repeated or prolonged exposure; and it may be neurotoxic if absorbed into the

brain. The U.S. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) § 313 requires

anyone manufacturing, processing, or using Al2O3 to report this activity to EPA. Any aircraft

containing a hazardous substance is considered by the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) § 103, and by EPCRA § 304, a "facility"

required to report any release into the environment. Whether users deploying substances into the

atmosphere do presently comply is unlikely. Typically, stratospheric releases of sulfuric and

aluminum oxide particulates fall into the troposphere, blocking sunlight from reaching earth's

surface, after which they rain down as acidic pollution, harming terrestrial and aquatic life. Acidic

precipitation further mobilizes aluminum from both natural sources and direct, anthropogenic

atmospheric releases and industrial processes. Acidification mobilizes aluminum from land into

aquatic environments and into human and animal brain tissues. Acid rain dissolves and washes

LC004842 - Page 2 of 24

away the soil's nutrients and minerals, which help plants grow. It reduces photosynthesis by

removing the waxy cover on leaves and ultimately kills the aquatic life upon which human life

depends.

     (2) Carbon black or black carbon releases: Deliberate, atmospheric releases of soot are used

to produce artificial weather events, increasing albedo and reflecting sunlight; in particular,

aerosolized coal combustion fly ash liberates dispersed aluminum, which, when absorbed into

human and other bodies, is a primary factor in the pronounced increase in neurological diseases

and the widespread debilitation of earth's biota;

     (3) Rocket emissions: Entirely unregulated, these include, without limitation, black carbon

soot and alumina particles in addition to carbon monoxide (CO), chlorine, sulfuric compounds,

methane, and water vapor, a "greenhouse gas" blocking sunlight and reflecting terrestrial heat;

     (4) Cloud brightening: Sodium chloride (NaCl) or sea salt, seawater, nitric acid (HNO3),

and other materials injected into clouds make the clouds more reflective, after which the salt and

other materials rain out over land areas and freshwater supplies – reinforcing the need for the 2021

expansion of states' rights under the U.S. Clean Water Act.

     (5) Salt flare rockets: Fired into clouds, salt flare rockets trigger rain downpours containing

salt, that contaminates freshwater supplies, desiccates surfaces, and makes the atmosphere and

exposed biota, including humans, more conductive;

     (6) Cloud-seeding releases of Silver Iodide (AgI) and/or solid dry ice, which is carbon

dioxide (CO2), the latter increasing carbon levels that state policies rather intend to decrease;

     (7) Cloud-cover production: Aerial releases of water vapor, a "greenhouse gas", result in

manmade cloud cover, trapping terrestrial heat;

     (8) Reflective space mesh mirrors: Wire-mesh mirrors deployed in space reduce the

amount of direct sunlight reaching earth's surface over small or large areas, depending on their size;

     (9) Space sunshades or sunshields: Huge, parasol-like devices reduce the amount of direct

sunlight reaching earth's surface;

     (10) Planetary sunshades: These largest of SRM operations use particulates to cover, over

time, the whole earth, substantially stripping the ozone layer and reducing the amount of direct

sunlight reaching earth's surface;

     (11) Artificial ionosphere: A sustained, high-density plasma cloud produced in earth's

upper atmosphere;

     (12) Large helium balloons releasing atmospheric contaminants such as SO2; and

     (13) Lithium releases.

     (e) CDR, involving the sequestration, capture, and removal of carbon dioxide (CO2);

LC004842 - Page 3 of 24

     (1) Land-based and ocean-based carbon sequestration, also called CO2 geo-sequestration;

     (2) Carbon capture or removal, involving the capture of what is considered "waste" CO2

and its deposit at storage sites, in order to allow the oil industry to continue burning fossil fuels;

     (3) Biochar, requiring burning huge amounts of biomass such as trees, crops, and solid

waste;

     (4) Ocean fertilization (OF) by dumping iron filings, lime, and urea so as to sequester CO2,

producing detrimental artificial algae blooms and reducing oxygen and needed nutrients; and

     (5) Genetically modified CO2-eating, plastic trees;

     (f) Additional atmospheric activities requiring state licensing include, without limitation:

     (1) Ocean-cooling pipes, which would rather exacerbate oceanic warming;

     (2) Re-icing and/or cooling the Arctic and other areas through artificial means;

     (3) Ground-based cloud-nucleating generators;

     (4) Weather modification involving the release of sea salt, silver iodide, barium, and other

substances to enhance precipitation (rain or snow) in one area while reducing precipitation

elsewhere;

     (5) Flame-throwing fire drones purposed to cause terrestrial fires, and certain other

controlled-burn methods;

     (6) Glacier-reflecting blanket deployment, with vast polar areas to be covered with soot;

     (7) Nitrogen removal and sequestration;

     (8) Evaporation alteration, by spreading various kinds of film upon large bodies of water;

     (9) Water vapor generation using nuclear fission or fusion, contaminating water sources;

     (10) Chaff releases, which involve the dispersal of bundles of millions of aluminum-coated

glass fibers, often in lengths 1.5 centimeters (cm), 2.5cm, and 5cm, or nano-chaff that spread over

hundreds of miles, remain in the air for up to a day, or for years, and then fall and break apart; while

purposed to confuse foreign radars and satellite vision, chaff can causes power outages and interfere

with air-traffic control, weather forecasting and climate research;

     (11) Deployment of radiofrequency/microwave (RF/MW) radiation, and low-frequency

electric or magnetic fields, other than those needed for safety and aviation communication by

infrastructures, individual and high-densification antennas at terrestrial surface and at higher

altitudes from satellites, and by other means or at other altitudes; and

     (12) Intense mechanical vibration or noise other than from a facility's propulsion; and other

physical agents, such as intentional changes to ambient temperature or barometric pressure, or

excessive light at night, for any purpose, or inadvertently from other activities.

     (g) Aircraft atmospheric activities include those carried out from or by any type of manned

LC004842 - Page 4 of 24

or unmanned aerial vehicle (the latter "UAV"), rocket, drone, balloon, or other facility, which

involve the release or deployment of any nuclear radiation; any biologic or trans-biologic agent;

any chemical substance or mixture including any chemical substance added to the aircraft's fuel

emissions; cloud seeding; any electromagnetic radiation deployment other than radar or radio

communications necessary for the aircraft's safety; or any other harmful physical agent, shall be

subject to regulation including the licensing process, pursuant to this chapter.

     (h) Consequences: Documented problems arising from hazardous atmospheric activities

include:

     (1) Contamination of air, water, and soil, as particulates fall to earth's surface; and other

contaminants, including liquids, vapors and physical agents, impact the surface at or below ground

or sea level;

     (2) Degradation of human, animal, insect, and plant health and productivity, with early

death, when people and other living organisms are exposed to released particulates, vapors and

other types of contaminants, often in violation of the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of

1970 (NEPA);

     (3) The acceleration of biodiversity and species losses, especially the loss of endangered

and threatened species as identified under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), each

of which species has intrinsic as well as human-resource and resiliency value, and each of which

cannot bear, per ESA, further habitat modification or degradation;

     (4) Extreme weather, with unprecedented temperatures, fires, floods, wind speeds,

electrical storms, hurricanes and tornados, resulting in large-scale loss of life, damaged structures

and infrastructures; and severe reduction in state, regional, and global food production; with a

potential to breach state and national security;

     (5) Changes in micro-climates, local weather, and large-scale climate areas within shorter

time periods, with increased and cascading climate effects and political ramifications;

     (6) Global dimming, which decreases vitamin D (calciferol) in humans and animals,

causing malabsorption of calcium, magnesium and phosphate, with the increase of infections and

other diseases; and in plants, photosynthesis reduction, with losses in agricultural productivity;

     (7) Less direct sunlight reaching earth's surface, with fewer winter freezes and higher

humidity, resulting in increased molds, mildews, fungi, and other pathogens and pests that develop

from such conditions – with human, animal and plant diseases resulting therefrom;

     (8) Increases in acid rain loads from the airborne injection or releases of sulfur and

aluminum oxides, with human, animal, pollinating insect, plant, and water-resource degradation;

     (9) Changes in distribution patterns and chemical contents of rainfall, resulting in floods,

LC004842 - Page 5 of 24

droughts, and the potential for international political conflicts;

     (10) Algal blooms, with impacts upon human health, aquatic systems, and economies;

     (11) The near-impossibility of restoring devalued natural resources, with the undermining

and waste of state-funded conservation programs;

     (12) The potential, through radiative forcing, to reflect too much heat back to earth, or to

produce excessive cold by reflecting too much cosmic energy away from earth, and to bring about

feedback loops by one or the other;

     (13) Increased ultraviolet (UV) radiation (including UVA, UVB, and UVC) at earth's

surface: UV is strongly absorbed by organic materials such as living tissues, with UVC's high

energy and small wavelength particularly capable of destroying DNA and reproduction;

     (14) Increased combustibility of earth's terrestrial surfaces, by means of fallen particulates,

some pyrophoric and/or desiccating, with increased fire incidence;

     (15) Significant increases in ambient mechanical vibration and noise pollution, leading to,

without limitation, increased incidence of nervous system and cardiac irregularities;

     (16) Increased metals content in surface-dwelling and aquatic organisms, producing

heightened bodily electrical conductivity and radiation absorption, with more susceptibilities and

damages; particularly where atmospheric electrical charges are naturally or otherwise intensified;

     (17) Extreme harm to vulnerable human subpopulations and the more vulnerable species;

     (18) Significant changes to earth's atmosphere's electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic

properties through the induction of high-intensity, decimeter, centimeter, and millimeter wave

microwave radiation from increasingly densified wireless facilities, terrestrial and atmospheric,

resulting in extreme and less predictable weather, the desiccation of humans, animals, insects and

plants; blood-cell clumping (Rouleaux formation), blood-clotting increase, and blood-oxygen

deprivation in humans and animals; diabetes and asthma increase in humans and animals; and the

reduction and ultimate eradication of animal and insect populations, particularly pollinators

dependent for navigation upon geomagnetism;

     (19) Visibility impairment and clutter, reducing aviation safety and accelerating collision

rates with satellites, balloons and nearly one million "space-junk" or "space-debris" particles;

     (20) RF/MW interference from the exponentially increasing number of microwave-

irradiating satellites with altimeters, global positioning system (GPS) and other international

position systems' signals, relied upon by the aviation industry in traffic separation, aircraft

navigation and instrument approaches for landing aircraft; and relied upon by militaries for national

security; with the need for more frequent replacement of equipment, potentially costing the public

billions of dollars;

LC004842 - Page 6 of 24

     (21) According to the William & Mary Law Review, the enabling of the Internet of Bodies

(IoB), a "mesh" or grid through which every human and most animals would contain worn,

ingested, inhaled, and injected chips or sensors of micro to pico size with transmitting antennas,

with every body functioning as an Internet node, toward complete warrantless surveillance and

control, even by foreign entities, with constant biometric data collection and loss of autonomy

under an over-arching artificial intelligence, in violation of the search and seizure laws set forth in

the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Rhode Island Constitution's Declaration of

Certain Constitutional Rights and Principles, Article I, Section 6;

     (22) Vulnerability of communications signals including those for munitions from the

potential for solar flare alteration or demolition of space-based solar power systems;

     (23) Electrical grid vulnerability to attack through the hackability of the so-called "smart"

grid and its "smart" devices; and the overconsumption of energy from densified microwave antenna

systems, as unsustainable;

     (24) The sparking of fires, in addition to harm to health and the environment, from the

residential proximity of "smart" meters and their intense microwave radiation spikes;

     (25) Increasing incidence of dementia, learning impairments, cardiovascular and

respiratory diseases, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, birth defects, infertility, cancers, and early

death in humans, and increasing impairment, disease, debility and early death likewise in other

living beings;

     (26) Mass psychological and social changes by means of lithium and other psychoactive

substances' releases;

     (27) The delay by decades of the ozone layer's potential recovery;

     (28) Through carbon capture and sequestration programs, allowing oil-industry polluters

to continue burning fossil fuels, rather than stopping pollution before it exits the smokestack;

     (29) The financial burden that airborne, reflective, metallic particulates such as chaff must

be repeatedly replenished by aircraft release, since their atmospheric time is limited;

     (30) Further financial burden, since, according to the Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory, the amount of injected material is much less effective in polluted clouds, requiring the

injection of increasing amounts of chemical materials for cloud-brightening;

     (31) Economic losses to various sectors of society and to the state itself, resulting from,

without limitation, human health damages, with productivity loss, increased and earlier health care

needs, and heightened suffering for those injured and sensitized by prior hazardous exposures;

contaminated soils and water supplies, loss of pollinators such as bees, butterflies and birds, de-

creased crop yields, dead and dying forests, loss of habitats, decline of fisheries, rising pollution

LC004842 - Page 7 of 24

cleanup costs, and less solar power production from lack of sunlight reaching earth's surface; and

     (32) The potential and ease for enemies, foreign and domestic, to cause harm intentionally.

     (i) Necessity arising from federal stance:

     (A) By shirking duties to protect national and state security, safety, human and

environmental health and property, the federal government has acted by various means to cause,

and permit harm through hazardous emission activities known to and in some cases funded by or

through U.S. agencies, thereby establishing, through the Tenth Amendment of the U.S.

Constitution, the authority and obligation of the states to override such destructive activities, acts

and policies, correct the federal government, cancel plans for hazardous activities involving

atmospheric contaminants such as, without limitation, those released in aerosol injection and by

high-densification antennas, and lawfully void contracts and permits pertaining thereto.

     (B) Under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Rhode Island

Constitution, no state lawmaker can act so as to deprive constituents of their health, safety,

environmental and agricultural health, their privacy, or their due, direct representation by their

public officials. States' rights, including their authorities, are correctly exerted where federal

restrictions have become oppressive or destructive; however, these rights can be used neither to

shrink state authorities under attempts of self-preemption from federal and otherwise granted

authorities, nor to obstruct authorities by appointees who block or disassemble them. A state law

attempting to nullify a portion of its own state constitution would result in the lawmaking body's

own nullification. As an existential constitutional threat, such misuse of the Tenth Amendment

does not authorize states to undermine the Ninth Amendment or any other federally granted rights

and authorities. Nor can the Tenth Amendment be abused to nullify any state constitutional

provisions such as the individual rights declared therein. Thus, no state or local government or

instrumentality thereof can lawfully act so as to self-preempt from its due protection of constituents,

and any such attempt, per Marbury vs. Madison, 5 US (2 Cranch) 137,174,176 (1803) as at once

self-nullifying and dissolving of that governmental body, shall be deemed void ab initio and

expressly terminated.

     (C) In view of these facts, the general assembly declares that atmospheric activities must

be strictly regulated by the state through a licensing process with full enforcement capability,

through which an impact response conclusion (IRC) from the department of environmental

management (DEM), based on preliminary, detailed impact reports (IRs) from the state agencies,

state offices, departments, and programs included in § 23-23.8-5, as well as information gathered

in public hearings including public comment, must guide decision-making, pursuant to this chapter.

     23-23.8-4. Definitions.

LC004842 - Page 8 of 24

     As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

     (1) "Albedo" means the fraction of incident radiation, such as light and heat, reflected by a

natural cloud or by materials injected into the atmosphere.

     (2) "Announcement" means the publication on the publicly accessible Internet website of

the department of environmental management (DEM) a notification of the receipt of an application

from an entity or individual seeking to conduct or engage in an atmospheric activity.

     (3) "Application" means a written request submitted by any entity or individual seeking to

implement, conduct or engage in any form of atmospheric activity, such as cloud-seeding.

     (4) "Area" means a portion within the confines of the state or the state's territorial waters,

including the atmosphere above the state.

     (5) "Atmospheric activity" means any human activity that occurs in the atmosphere and

may have harmful consequences upon health, the environment and agriculture.

     (6) "Atmospheric contaminant" means any type of aerosol, chaff, biologic or transbiologic

agent, genetically modified agent, metal, radioactive material, vapor, particulate down to or less

than one nanometer in diameter, and any air pollutant regulated by the state, including without

limitation those deemed "unnecessary" pursuant to the general laws, xenobiotic (foreign-to-life)

electromagnetic radiation and fields, mechanical vibration and other physical agents, or any

combination of such contaminants.

     (7) "Chaff" means aluminum-coated silica glass fibers typically dispersed in bundles

containing five million (5,000,000) to one hundred million (100,000,000) inhalable fibers, which

fall to the ground in about one day.

     (8) "Conditions" means any limitations and safeguards to be placed on an applied-for

activity that is licensed by the director of the department of environmental management (DEM).

     (9) "Department" or "DEM" means the state department of environmental management.

     (10) "Director" means the director of the state department of environmental management.

     (11) "Entity" means any of the following: individual; trust; firm; joint stock company;

corporation, including a quasi-governmental corporation; partnership; association; syndicate;

municipality or state or municipal agency; program; fire district; club; nonprofit agency;

commission; university or college in this state; department or agency of the state, the federal

government, or any interstate or international governance or instrumentality thereof, including

foreign, domestic and mercenary armed services; or region within the United States.

     (12) "Geoengineering" means the intentional manipulation of the environment, involving

nuclear, biological, transbiological, chemical, electromagnetic and other physical-agent

contaminants that effect changes to earth's atmosphere or surface; and is inclusive of weather

LC004842 - Page 9 of 24

modification.

     (13) "Hazard" means a substance or physical agent by its nature harmful to living

organisms, generally, and to property or another interest of value.

     (14) "Impact report" or "IR" means the report developed and submitted to the department

for publication, following the department's reception of an atmospheric activity application, by each

appropriate agency, office, department or program in this state, as identified herein, without

limitation, at § 23-23.8-5, assessing specific, actual and potential, short-term and long-term effects

upon human and environmental health and safety, aviation safety, agriculture, biodiversity, coastal

conservation, endangered species, energy consumption, fish and game, forestry, habitat, river and

ocean purity, water resources, wildlife, and the state's security and economy.

     (15) "Impact Report Conclusion" or "IRC" means the department's collective conclusions

in response to the information-gathering process, based on substantive information in both the

impact reports (IRs) submitted by various state agencies and from members of the public.

     (16) "Individual" means any man, woman or child.

     (17) "License" means a contract, pursuant to this chapter, issued by the director of the DEM

to an applicant to engage in an atmospheric activity.

     (18) "Long-term effects" means actual and potential consequences or impacts that may

manifest later than one year following the completion of an atmospheric activity.

     (19) "Physical agent" means an agent other than a substance, including, without limitation,

radiofrequency/microwave (RF/MW) and other electromagnetic radiation and fields, barometric

pressure, temperature, gravity, kinetic weaponry, mechanical vibration and sound.

     (20) "Post-activity report" or "PAR" means the report that must be submitted by the

licensee to the department of environmental management following the completion of a licensed

activity.

     (21) "Radiative forcing" means measures of heat energy coming from the sun and reflected

back to space, versus measures of terrestrial heat energy, reflected back to earth's surface.

     (22) "Release" means any activity that results in the issuance of contaminants such as the

emitting, transmitting, discharging or injecting of one or more nuclear, biological, transbiological,

chemical, or physical agents into the ambient atmosphere; whether once, intermittently, or

continuously.

     (23) "Short-term effects" means actual and potential consequences or impacts that may

manifest within one year of the completion of an atmospheric activity.

     (24) "Stratosphere" means the region of the upper atmosphere extending upward from the

edge of the troposphere to about thirty (30) miles above the earth.

LC004842 - Page 10 of 24

     (25) "Troposphere" means the region of the lowest layer of the atmosphere, six (6) to

twelve (12) miles high in altitude, wherein temperature steadily drops with increasing altitude and

nearly all cloud formations occur and weather conditions manifest.

     (26) "Weather modification" means changing, controlling, or interfering with; or

attempting to change, control, or interfere with; the natural development of cloud forms,

precipitation, barometric pressure, temperature, conductivity and/or other electromagnetic or sonic

characteristics of the atmosphere.

     (27) "Website" means the department's publicly accessible Internet website.

     23-23.8--5. Regulation by the state.

     (a) This chapter, being necessary for the welfare of the state and its inhabitants and its

officials' obligation to promote the safety of life and property, and due to the potential for significant

harm, the following shall apply:

     (1) All state climate-related appointees must be, or have been, administered the state oath

of office and must fulfill the obligations thereunder to protect the state and federal constitutions

and Rhode Island constituents, requiring appointees' direct responsiveness to constituents and not

to foreign or out-of-state entities; and

     (2) Any contemplated atmospheric activity in or above the State of Rhode Island requires

the submission of a written application to request a license to engage in a specific type of activity

to begin on a specified date during a period of time not to exceed five (5) days.

     (b) A license shall be issued pursuant to the following process:

     (1) The department shall carry out an extensive public evaluation of any atmospheric

activity application, as specified herein.

     (2) Following the evaluation process, the director shall have the power to:

     (i) Grant or deny a license;

     (ii) Modify the conditions of a license; and

     (iii) Revoke a license for cause.

     (3) The director shall issue publicly a decision to grant, deny, or conditionally grant, a

license.

     (c) To obtain a license under this section, an applicant must have shown proof of

environmental health and safety and that the applied-for activity will produce zero hazardous

emissions, noting exemptions specified herein. If a license is granted, it is drafted as a contract only

between the department and the licensee, and may be modified after an additional brief evaluation

process, or revoked for cause.

     (d) The department shall refer potential violations as reported by state agencies or members

LC004842 - Page 11 of 24

of the public, to the DEM office of compliance and inspection (OC&I) office, as detailed herein.

     (e) There is hereby created a health-and-environment protection trust fund in the state

treasury into which shall be deposited application fees and violation fines under this chapter.

     (f) The director shall allocate funds in the health and environment protection fund to

counties in support of Rhode Island state residents' environmental and agricultural health. The

funds shall not be used by employees of the department.

     (g) Monies from the trust fund shall be used, for example:

     (1) To promote healthy food resilience by supporting local, organic-permaculture, small-

scale and home "victory gardens";

     (2) To improve ground-water quality by educating the public about the disadvantages of

home and business use of toxic maintenance and cosmetic substances;

     (3) To reduce auto emissions by relaxing standards for residential-area small businesses,

allowing for more local shopping and alternative transport thereto;

     (4) To reduce energy consumption by requiring wired communications such as analog or

other wired utility meters and fiber-optics to the premises (FTTP), by enacting a curfew of office

lights, wifi and beam-forming radiation out after the hour of eleven o'clock (11:00) p.m. by

requiring geothermal and passive solar in new construction, and by allowing and supporting off-

grid self-sufficiency and solar direct-to-device.

     (5) To set up "free zones" where people and animals alike can reside and recreate, free

from polluting chemicals, RF/MW radiation and other hazards; and

     (6) To produce accurate, comprehensive curricula about hazardous emissions and their

remedies, and to introduce these in university-level and grades kindergarten through twelve (K-12)

study.

     (h) Any municipality that fails to use its allocated money for productive environmental and

agricultural health projects may have its funds withheld in the subsequent year.

     (i) The department is authorized to, and shall, promulgate regulations to implement this

chapter, including, without limitation:

     (1) Placing submitted applications, evaluative materials, decisions, and licensing upon the

website;

     (2) Soliciting and obtaining impact reports (IRs), holding hearings and providing a

comment period, composing and revising the impact report conclusion (IRC), and evaluating an

applicant's written application response (AR) and a licensee's post-activity report (PAR) in response

to the evaluative processes detailed in this section;

     (3) Granting or denying licensing in response to applications submitted under this section,

LC004842 - Page 12 of 24

which applications shall be decided on a case-by-case basis;

     (4) Determining when violations have occurred and referring them to compliance

authorities; and

     (5) Allocating to each municipality the funds in the health-and-environment protection

fund.

     23-23.8-6. License applications.

     (a) The department shall promulgate a written application to conduct atmospheric activities

in Rhode Island. An entity seeking to implement, conduct or engage in any form of atmospheric

activity within or above any area of the state shall submit to the director the application for a license,

in both hardcopy and electronic forms, along with the proposed GPS and altitude locations for the

activity, start and end dates encompassing less than or equal to five (5) days, and a fee of one

thousand dollars ($1,000).

     (b) The application process requires the following information as well as other information,

as promulgated by the director:

     (1) A detailed description of the contemplated activity, including the purposes, scope,

methods, materials, equipment, devices, physical agents and timing of activity of less than or equal

to five (5) days;

     (2) The following:

     (i) Sources, sizes, amounts and concentrations of all materials and the precise chemical

formulas of any substance or mixture to be used in the activity;

     (ii) The resulting products during and following deployment of a substance or mixture

listed under subsection (b)(2)(i).

     (iii) The biological and/or transbiological materials used in the activity, along with any

potential interactions of the materials and physical agents such as electromagnetism during and

following deployment; and

     (iv) The source equipment, such as tanks, hoses, dispersal jets, and ionizers; and generating

equipment for various frequencies, modulation characteristics and rates, intensities and

concentrations, directionalities, reflection and duration specifications of any type of

electromagnetism or other physical agent to be deployed or potentially released, intentionally or

inadvertently, during the activity.

     (3) Proof of safety to life and property, including human and environmental health, during

and following the activity, with substantiating evidentiary documents from independent sources.

     (4) The names, educational and professional backgrounds and qualifications of all

individuals to be involved in the activity, along with all prior employment and business ownerships.

LC004842 - Page 13 of 24

     (5) A criminal background check of each participant in a potential atmospheric activity.

     (6) The name and number of any aircraft or other vehicle or facility that may be used for

the activity.

     (7) A one thousand dollar ($1,000) fee, or a five hundred dollar ($500) fee only for farmers

who apply to carry out crop-dusting, to be paid into a public trust, which shall be set up by the

director for the purpose of this act.

     (8) A signed hardcopy application and an electronic copy of the application.

     (c) The director shall acknowledge receipt of the application to the applicant within one

business day of receipt, and the same day shall place the application on the website, with signatures

redacted, and shall notify the following and others who may express interest in receiving notice:

     (1) Rhode Island department of health;

     (2) Disability Rights Rhode Island (DRRI);

     (3) Division of agriculture within the DEM;

     (4) Office of air resources within the DEM;

     (5) Office of water resources within the DEM;

     (6) Rhode Island marine fisheries council within DEM;

     (7) Division of fish and wildlife outdoor education within DEM;

     (8) Rhode Island parks & recreation within DEM;

     (9) Rhode Island coastal resources management council;

     (10) Rhode Island water resources board;

     (11) Rhode Island office of energy resources;

     (12) University of Rhode Island coastal institute;

     (13) Rhode Island state conservation committee;

     (14) Rhode Island airport corporation;

     (15) Clean Water Action – Rhode Island;

     (16) Rhode Island fishermen's alliance;

     (17) Rhode Island farm bureau;

     (18) Rhode Island dairy farms cooperative;

     (19) Rhode Island Audubon society;

     (20) Rhode Island beekeepers association;

     (21) Rhode Island wild plant society:

     (22) Land conservancy of North Kingstown; and

     (23) Rhode Islanders for safe technology.

     (d) The director is further authorized to, and should, subpoena witnesses, administer oaths,

LC004842 - Page 14 of 24

and compel the production of documents for the hearing process.

     23-23.8-7. Application evaluation.

     (a) An applied-for activity must first be evaluated by the department and the applicable

agencies, offices, departments and programs in this state, which shall produce, under the instruction

of the director, their respective impact reports (IRs) in their respective subject areas:

     (1) The planned methods of release, dispersal, or other deployment of substances or

physical agents into the environment including the atmosphere;

     (2) The potential impact in the reduction of or increase in sunlight reaching earth's surface;

     (3) The anticipated radiative forcing or heat, if any, reflected to earth's surface and to space;

     (4) The potential and actual, direct and indirect effects upon humans and other living

organisms, populations, ecosystems, agriculture, astronomy, aviation, property, and the state's

security and economy;

     (5) Transboundary effects;

     (6) The short- and long-term effects of each of the above; and

     (7) The start and end date conflicts, if any, within the state. 

     (b) Each IR shall include a recommendation to allow, disallow, or to allow in a qualified

way with conditions, the applied-for activity.

     (c) Within three (3) weeks of application submission, or other standardized period as

promulgated by the director, the department shall publish on the website all IRs, citing all actual

and potential impacts of the applied-for activity, both short-term and long-term, defined

respectively as within and beyond one year from completion of the activity.

     (d) The department shall at once publish on its website dates of two (2) public hearings

with a comment period on the applied-for activity, noting in said publication the importance of

potential contributors' provisions of substantive information – of facts and laws – with supportive

written evidence.

     (e) The department shall seek public comment and testimony for any applied-for activity

for which an applicant has submitted an application under this section. Invited testimony shall

include, without limitation, comments of the following individuals and their communities, as

locatable through advocacy organizations and more:

     (1) Individuals with disabilities and those with health conditions that may be affected by

atmospheric contaminants;

     (2) Medical and public health science professionals;

     (3) Other experts including, without limitation, health and environmental science,

agriculture, astronomy, aviation, beekeeping, coastal integrity, conservation, disability, ecology,

LC004842 - Page 15 of 24

economy, fish and game, foraging, forestry, ornithology, permaculture, toxicology, wildlife; and

water purity in lakes, rivers, wetlands and the ocean;

     (4) Legal experts in warrantless surveillance and privacy rights, rights to public safety and

freedom from imposed medical protocols, both intentional and effectively functioning as such;

     (5) Weaponry experts in nuclear, biological, chemical, electromagnetic, sonic, and others;

and experts in security therefrom; and

     (6) Other interested individuals and organizations in Rhode Island that might ask the

department to provide notice when receiving license applications.

     (f) The department shall hold two (2) hearings separated by a period of two (2) weeks and

over a total comment period of five (5) weeks from the first hearing, or longer periods, as shall be

promulgated by the director for the purpose of collecting further substantive information.

     (g) Following the close of the comment period, in response to the above hearings and

received information, the department shall within three (3) weeks or a reasonable period to be

promulgated by the director, draft its IRC summarizing the content collected in the above IRs and

public processes, citing the collected safety, environmental health, agricultural, coastal, economic,

security, and other impacts of the applied-for activity, tentatively recommending the granting or

denying of the license, and publish the IRC on the website.

     (h) The director shall supplement the IRC by adding any new, pertinent information

received by the department, and shall correct any misinformation and make precise any vague

statement in the draft IRC.

     (i) Within ten (10) days, the department shall complete the revision of the draft IRC and

publish its final IRC with recommendation to grant, deny, or grant in a qualified way, the applied-

for activity.

     (j) The applicant then shall have ten (10) days to respond to the final IRC, to substantiate

comprehensively any disagreement with the IRC, IR, and public comments and to prove health and

safety in a written application response (AR). Within one business day of receipt, the department

shall publish the AR on its website.

     23-23.8-8. Decision-making criteria -- Application of federal law.

     (a) Within ten (10) days or a reasonable period to be promulgated by the director, the

director shall announce on the website the final decision whether to grant, deny, or grant with stated

conditions, the applied-for license.

     (b) The department shall weight in the IRC bodily security, health, and environmental and

agricultural protection more heavily than economic interests.

     (c) The department shall include in the IRC prepared under this subsection the factual and

LC004842 - Page 16 of 24

legal information presented at any pertinent hearings held by the department, recognizing, without

limitation, the Ninth Amendment protection of individual rights to privacy and freedom from

assault in one's home and body, as superseding both any federal impositions and Tenth Amendment

states' rights.

     (d) Since, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United

Nations General Assembly to which the United States is a signatory, "Everyone has the right to

life, liberty and security of person," (Article 3), those harmed or more likely to be harmed bodily

by way of atmospheric activities have a greater right than do stakeholders with monetary interests,

and this bodily right shall be weighted by the department more heavily than financial interest in

licensing and appeals decisions.

     (e) Further, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act provides that persons with

disabilities be able to participate in society without being harmed.

     (f) The federal Fair Housing Amendment Act allows persons with disabilities dwellings

that are accessible, i.e., free of harm, including from exogenous circumstances such as potentially

hazardous activities.

     (g) COVID precedents have established that human health is to be prioritized above

financial interests.

     (h) Since atmospheric activities carried out even at extremely high altitudes may result in

serious terrestrial consequences in communities and even within homes and bodies, persons with

disabilities who are more susceptible to harm by way of prior injuries, exposures, impairments,

illnesses, or other reasons, have weightier stakeholder status under this section.

     23-23.8-9. Application denial -- Criteria.

     The department shall deny an application if either of the following is true:

     (1) An applicable impact report (IR) substantively recommends that the applied-for activity

be disallowed; or

     (2) An applicant has not disproven the validity of evidence submitted under this chapter

that the applied-for activity is harmful.

     23-23.8-10. Granting of license -- License agreement.

     (a) If licensing the activity, the director shall, within ten (10) days or a reasonable period

to be promulgated, draft a license agreement.

     (b) Upon granting a license under this chapter, the director shall first issue the applicant a

draft agreement potentially to be executed, which shall include:

     (1) A detailed list of the department's conditions, limitations, and safeguards placed upon

the activity;

LC004842 - Page 17 of 24

     (2) Steps to be taken to document each aspect of the activity by the hour and minute with

GPS location and altitude, and to track observable effects of the activity in real time; and

     (3) Follow-up requirements for the detailed PAR to be submitted to the department by the

licensee within thirty (30) days after completion of the activity. /

     (c) Where a license is to be granted, the potential licensee must provide proof of insurance

and bonding for the specific activity at least three (3) weeks prior to the activity start date, or else

the license is void, in which case the director shall immediately provide notice to the applicant of

void status, and place such notice on the website.

     23-23.8-11. Application fee.

     The director shall ensure that the applicant's fee is deposited within the health-and-

environment protection fund.

     23-23.8-12. Execution of agreement.

     (a) The applicant must provide:

     (1) A signed hardcopy and electronic copy of the agreement with the signatory's indication

of all participants' understandings of the potential for adverse consequences if the terms and

conditions are violated or not fulfilled;

     (2) An agreement to document the hour, minute, and GPS location or locations and altitude

or altitudes of each aspect of the activity or activities; and

     (3) An agreement to submit a PAR within thirty (30) days of completion of the activity, to

ensure that each aspect of the activity was carried out as agreed.

     (b) The director shall execute the agreement and issue the license to the applicant pursuant

to § 23-23.8-10, if the director finds the applicant's signature, bonding, insurance, and other

requirements to be complete and accurate.

     (c) In the case of a denial pursuant to § 23-23.8-10, the director shall provide the applicant

summary reasons for denial, as substantiated within the IRC.

     23-23.8-13. License status -- Limitations.

     (a) A license is a contract between the department and the licensee only, and is also a public

document from which signatures may be redacted prior to publication on the department's website.

     (b) A license must not be used for any activity other than that specified in the license.

     23-23.8-14. Confirmation of atmospheric activity -- Public notice.

     (a) A licensee must confirm in writing to the department at least two (2) weeks in advance

of the start date of its intent to carry out the activity on the licensed start date pursuant to the terms

of the license agreement.

     (b) Should the applicant wish to delay the start date of the applied-for activity, such request

LC004842 - Page 18 of 24

and reasons for proposed modification must be submitted to the department in a timely manner,

and shall be deliberated publicly during an additional ten (10) day period to ensure that the new,

proposed date or dates do not conflict with state or other activities.

     (c) After the additional ten (10) day deliberation period set forth in subsection (b), the

director shall issue a decision to modify or not modify the license's start date.

     (d) The department shall notify the public on its website of the activity's commencement

seven (7) days in advance of the start date.

     23-23.8-15. Live data collection -- Post-activity report.

     (a) The department shall collect during and after an activity any and all reports from the

public and other sources, along with its OC&I, as detailed in this chapter.

     (b) A detailed PAR with a signature and an electronic copy must be submitted to the

department by a licensee within thirty (30) days after completion of the activity, including the steps

taken to ensure safety and track effects, the hour, minute, GPS location and altitude of each aspect

of the activity, and any effects observed to-date.

     23-23.8-16. Post-activity public hearing.

     Within forty (40) days of the completion of an activity licensed pursuant to this chapter,

the director shall publish the PAR, any other collected public information and reports, and other

reports on the website, and shall convene a public hearing to occur within sixty (60) days of the

completion of the activity to discuss the effects of the activity.

     23-23.8-17. Appeals.

     An applicant aggrieved by a decision of the director pursuant to this chapter may seek

judicial review of the decision pursuant to  chapter 35 of title 42 (administrative procedure act).

     23-23.8-18. Unlicensed activity.

     (a) The director shall immediately issue a cease-and-desist order upon the discovery of an

unlicensed atmospheric activity, where an agency, department, office, program, or member of the

public produces evidence to the department that the activity may be harmful or involves a

hazardous emission; and

     (b) The cease-and-desist order under subsection (a) of this section shall have the weight of

a court order and any violation shall be punished under law.

     23-23.8-19. Departmental notice to cease federal or internationally-approved

programs.

     (a) Where an activity that the department has deemed hazardous has been approved,

explicitly or implicitly, by the federal government, the department shall issue a notice to the

appropriate federal authority and/or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the hazardous

LC004842 - Page 19 of 24

activity cannot lawfully be carried out within or over the State of Rhode Island, pursuant to the

Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

     (b) A foreign state or international body that funds in-part or in-whole or engages in an

activity deemed hazardous by the department shall be prohibited in perpetuity from both engaging

in and applying to engage in atmospheric activities in or above the State of Rhode Island. The

department is authorized to provide notice to such foreign state or international body that the

hazardous activity cannot lawfully be carried out within or over the State of Rhode Island.

     23-23.8-20. Penalties and Enforcement.

     An unlicensed entity or individual that engages in an activity requiring a license under this

chapter or who fails to comply with the decision of the director, or any entity or person who uses

an unmarked or unidentified aircraft or other vehicle or facility to carry out an atmospheric activity:

     (1) Has committed a felony and shall pay a fine of not less than five hundred thousand

dollars ($500,000) or be imprisoned for not less than two (2) years, or both;

     (2) Shall be guilty of a separate offense for each day during which violative activity has

been conducted, repeated, or continued; and

     (3) Shall also be deemed in violation and subject to further penalties under § 23-23-14.

     23-23.8-21. Public participation -- Reporting.

     (a) The department shall post advertisements in newspapers of general circulation and on

the website to encourage the public to monitor, measure, document and report present, potential

and past incidents that may constitute harmful atmospheric activity.

     (b) An individual who presents evidence of potentially harmful atmospheric activity under

subsection (a) of this section shall email or otherwise write and send any of the following to the

director or to any state police office or public official:

     (1) Evidentiary photographs, each separately titled as an electronic or hardcopy document,

with the respective location from which, and, if the content is from other than a measuring device,

the direction in which, the photo was taken, with its time and date;

     (2) Collected samples with photography, videography, audiography, lab tests, microscopy,

spectrometry, metering, and other forms of evidence shall similarly be submitted in writing to the

director or to any state office, or any state public official; and

     (3) Videography of activity involving hazardous emissions.

     (c) A public official who has received information under subsection (a) of this section and

has reason to suspect violative activity based on evidence presented by an agency or individual

under subsection (b) of this section must, directly or through a designee, report in writing within

hours, all documentary and supportive evidence to the DEM OC&I for enforcement.

LC004842 - Page 20 of 24

     (d) A report to any state official of apparently harmful nuclear, biological, transbiological

and/or chemical ("NBC") emissions shall trigger investigation of the source and contents of said

emissions, potentially through FAA, without limitation. Spectrometry of air and rainwater and other

testing may be used to determine specific contents of emissions. Where the emissions are harmful

to humans or the environment, per primary scientific study, enforcement shall ensue pursuant to §

23-23.8-19.

     (e) A report to any state official of excessive electromagnetic radiation or fields in any part

of the spectrum, including without limitation microwave or maser, infrared, light or laser, and

ionizing radiation, or report of intense mechanical vibration, noise, or other physical agent, with

evidence, including possible photographs, videography, audio recordings, measurements of the

agents, or other detection, shall trigger immediately for attention within two (2) hours OC&I

emergency measurements of peaks and averages over time with the appropriate, calibrated meters

and forensic, detection devices both at and near the reported location. Where professional metering

and monitoring equipment is needed but not owned by the state, OC&I personnel shall partner with

academic institutions for investigative activity, so as to provide evidentiary findings that would

qualify under the U.S. Supreme Court Daubert Rule ( Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals

Inc., 509 U.S. 579).

     23-23.8-22. Investigatory findings -- Responses.

     A finding of:

     (1) Any NBCs that are either xenobiotic and should not exist in the natural environment,

or that are found at xenobiotic levels or levels beyond the legal limits of the state or federal

government, shall trigger enforcement as follows, over all federal, state and corporate entities:

     (i) OC&I's immediate communication of the requirement of the owner and operator of each

facility or infrastructure deploying or releasing the specific agents, to produce records of all data

collection on emissions of the extant operations of any site at or near where xenobiotic agents or

excessive levels are or have been detected, and convey said records to the department;

     (ii) OC&I's order to cease operations of the facilities or infrastructures other than those

operations needed for police, fire, emergency services, and aviation safety; and

     (iii) OC&I's evaluation within twenty-four (24) hours of the owner's or operator's

performance in causing the cessation of all operations except those activities exempted under

subsection (ii) of this section.

     (2) Radiofrequency/microwave (RF/MW) radiation, including maser, of signal strength

metered at and near the reported, publicly-accessible location in excess of -80 dBm (decibel-

milliwatt) for any frequency or channel band specified by a transmitting entity's FCC transmission

LC004842 - Page 21 of 24

license, which entity must comply with all of the following:

     (i) The Federal 1934 Communications Act (CA) requirement at 47 U.S.C. § 324 ch.652,

Title III, 48 Stat.109 of "minimal amount of power necessary to carry out the communication";

     (ii) The primary purpose of CA at 47 U.S.C. § 151, as reaffirmed in the 1996

Telecommunications Act (TCA) purpose at U.S.C. § 332 (a)(1) Mobile Services: to "promote the

safety of life and property";

     (iii) TCA requirements, including the circumscribed preemptions at 47 U.S.C. § 332

(c)(7)(A) and (c)(7)(B)(iv) omitting the "health effects" and "operations" of wireless facilities, so

as to avert any preemption thereof, and preserving state and local officials' authorities to promote

health, safety, life and property; while acknowledging the actuality of "the environmental effects"

of the radiation; stating positively, "Except as provided in this paragraph, nothing in this chapter

shall limit or affect the authority of a state or local government or instrumentality thereof over

decisions regarding the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service

facilities";

     (iv) TCA's preemption bounds, which apply solely to mobile phone calls made outdoors

and not to Internet data or any other wireless communication, rendering all other communications

outside the bounds of said preemption;

     (v) TCA's Conference Report at H. R. Rep. No. 104-204, pt. 1, p. 94 (1995), leaving

regulation of the operations of wireless facilities within state and local authorities and specifically

citing "safety" as regulatory criterion, while warning that any further attempted preemptions

"should be terminated";

     (vi) The U.S. Treasury's 2021 recommendation of Internet data speed of 100 Mbps, both

upload and download, as standard, so that people can efficiently work and study at home; which

data speed is not achievable through wireless facilities without exceeding the CA's requirement of

minimum power to carry out the communication, but which speed is easily achievable through

fiber-optics to the premises (FTTP);

     (vii) The consistent decisions of the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019 and

2021 declaring the FCC's rulemaking "arbitrary and capricious" and without "reasoned

explanation" in connection with its further deregulated deployments of wireless facilities, and

particularly to its exposure guideline as non-protective of health and environment, with no

guideline now extant for ongoing and new transmission frequencies >6 GHz; and

     (viii) The federal Public Health Service Act Amendment of 1968 states at § 354: "The

Congress hereby declares that the public health and safety must be protected from the dangers of

electronic product radiation;" thus, the federal stance is clear, with health effects recognized and

LC004842 - Page 22 of 24

state authorities established and ongoing; or

     (3) Extreme-low-frequency alternating current (AC) electric fields in excess of 1 volt per

meter (V/m); or

     (4) Magnetic fields in excess of 1 milliGauss (mG); or

     (5) Transients in the electrical wiring, also called "dirty electricity", which must be filtered

for safety; or

     (6) Ionizing radiation in excess of 0.02 milliSievert per hour (mSv/h);

     (7) Laser, Li-fi, strobe, or other light with harmful effects; or

     (8) Any vibration, noise, saser, sonic weapon, or other physical agent exceeding other

official limits, guidelines or standards, such as eCode360, shall trigger:

     (i) OC&I's immediate communication of the requirement of the owner or operator of each

tower, antenna, other facility or infrastructure deploying excessively energy-demanding and/or

public-exposing transmissions, or other source of energy or vibration at or near the reported

location, to produce records of all data collection on the extant operators at one or more sites near

where excessive xenobiotic electromagnetism and fields, mechanical vibration, or other physical

agents are or have been detected, and to convey said records to the department with twenty-four

(24) hours;

     (ii) OC&I's immediate communication of the requirement of the owner of the facility, or

utility or other service equipment at or near the reported location to provide within one business

day all data collection records up to that date and time of electrical usage at or near the reported

location.

     (iii) OC&I's order to cease operations of all antennas on, and other deployments of energy

or vibration emitted from, the measured structure or facility, other than the operations needed for

police, fire, emergency services, and aviation safety; and

     (iv) OC&I's evaluation within twenty-four (24) hours of the owner's or operator's

performance in causing the cessation of all operations except those activities exempted under

subsection (3).

     (v) OC&I's referral of potential criminal activity to the judiciary for prosecution.

     23-23.8--23. Administrative rules.

     The director may promulgate rules if necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

========

LC004842

========

LC004842 - Page 23 of 24

EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- THE CLEAN ATMOSPHERE ACT

***

     This act would establish regulations to reduce hazardous emissions, provide for a natural

climate, and increase resiliency by prohibiting the intentional manipulation of the environment, and

collect application and violation fees into a state trust fund for municipality-level allocation for

projects that promote the safety of life and property as well as environmental and agricultural

health. For state security, this chapter provides that an entity or individual seeking to engage in an

atmospheric activity must meet safety, health, and environmental requirements through a public

hearing process, pay a fee, and show proof of insurance and bonding in order to procure a license

from the DEM director for any such activity.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

========

LC004842

========

LC004842 - Page 24 of 24