Wallace E. Howell cloud seeding W. E. Howell Associates, Inc. and the law Lexington, Mass. in the Blue Ridge area

1. Cloud seeding and the citizen that the cloud seeding is either increasing the intensity It has been a truism of weather modification that it con- of hailstorms or in other instances suppressing the forma- cerns every citizen whose life is affected by the weather, tion of clouds and contributing to decrease of rainfall in and that means all of us. It has also been a truism that the seeded areas. Similar obstacles have been encountered some like it hot and some like it cold, some like it wet by cloud seeding programs in Texas and in Oregon. In and some like it dry. There have been a number of specu- the following paragraphs I shall follow the development lations as to how these conflicts of interest might work of opposition and the meteorological notions on which out in the future of weather modification legislation and it is based in a particular instance and suggest measures programs, but on the whole they have taken for granted that may be taken in the future. that developments would be based on adequate public education and guided by an enlightened attitude on the 2. Opposition develops in the Blue Ridge area part of lawmakers toward the scientific possibilities and In the summer of 1956 the fruit producing area in and the social and economic potentialities of weather modi- near the Great Appalachian Valley, where the Potomac fication. They have not on the whole contemplated River crosses it, suffered severely from hail damage. In obstruction of such developments based on mistaken some areas, not only was fruit completely destroyed but notions of the purpose and capabilities of weather modi- trees were defoliated and stripped of their bark on the fication programs firmly held and warmly championed windward side, so that whole orchards had to be cut by one segment or another of the population. The down and replaced. Under the stimulus of this catas- emergence of such opposition in several instances is, on trophe, and the suggestion that cloud seeding might the one hand, a problem for the individual cloud seeders somewhat mitigate the intensity of hail, a group of or- and their clients, and on the other hand a challenge to chardists incorporated the Blue Ridge Weather Modi- the profession in the guidance of over-all policy of fication Association as a non-profit corporation in West weather modification toward longer-range goals of its Virginia, and sought professional advice concerning their ultimate application for social and economic purposes. problem. They were advised that the effectiveness of In relatively rare instances, the opposition to weather cloud seeding for hail suppression was a highly uncertain modification has arisen from a conflict of interest in the and controversial matter, but that there was reason to intended goal of the cloud seeding program. For exam- hope that it might bring about an economically impor- ple, a cloud seeding program carried out in the State tant reduction in hail damage; furthermore, that the of Washington during the 1950's for stimulation of rain cloud seeding would not have undesirable side effects in over wheat growing areas aroused such opposition from the reduction of average precipitation in the area. On cherry growers who feared rain damage to the fruit at a this basis, the Association contracted with the Weather critical phase of its ripening that they employed for sev- Modification Company of San Jose, California, to carry eral seasons an anti-rain-stimulator who seeded the clouds out cloud seeding during a season from approximately in an effort to counteract the stimulation. More com- mid-May to the end of August for the purpose of hail monly, however, opposition has stemmed from a belief suppression. The seeding was done from a network of that the cloud seeding either accomplished the opposite about 100 silver iodide smoke generators situated in and of its intended purpose or was accompanied by side ef- to windward of the target area, supplemented by two fects of a dangerous or undesirable nature. In Colorado airplanes carrying silver iodide smoke generators, the and southwestern Nebraska, a program of cloud seeding operations being guided by observations made with a that began as a commercial venture in hail suppression 3-cm radar set situated where it had a view of rain de- for the sugar beet producers and has been converted to velopments over and about 100 miles to windward of the a program of research in hail suppression under the di- area to be protected. The ground generators were op- rection of Colorado State University has aroused bitter erated in a relatively selective manner, designed to place opposition from certain farmers in the area who believe the silver iodide smoke in the path of precipitation cells

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:22 PM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society observed on the radar to be exceptionally intense and when the farmers learned that the meeting had been considered to be threatening for hail. The aircraft were arranged for and the cloud physicist paid by the orchard- used to supplement the ground-based seeding for espe- ists' lawyer; they immediately assumed that the expert's cially intense precipitation centers or for precipitation testimony was bought and paid for in an effort to dupe centers approaching from directions not protected ade- the poor ignorant farmers. Violence directed against the quately by the ground-based network. The conceptual speaker was narrowly avoided, and far from achieving its model serving as a guide for the conduct of the seeding purpose, the meeting served as an occasion to focus op- operations was that which visualizes hail as the conse- position to the cloud seeding program. Opposition in- quence of snow pellets formed in the upper portion of creasingly crystallized around certain centers of action. large convective storms falling through a portion of the The Pennsylvania Senate in the spring of 1963 passed a rising chimney of relatively buoyant air containing large bill proposed by Senator Elmer Hawbaker of Mercers- quantities of supercooled liquid water. In accordance burg, Pennsylvania, that would have outlawed cloud with this model, the purpose of the seeding was to pro- seeding except when carried out by the Commissioner of vide, in the first place, a larger number of rudimentary Agriculture for experimental purposes, but this bill died hailstones at the top of the cloud by increasing the in the House Committee of Public Health and Welfare. number of frozen particles at that level, and in the A few months later, HR 8708 was introduced in the second place to diminish the concentration of super- U. S. Congress by Rep. Whalley of Pennsylvania, which cooled liquid water in the part of the updraft within would have outlawed cloud seeding from the air unless which the hailstones grew by converting it partly to snow. permission were received from all land owners in the The first season of operation of this program, the sum- area possibly affected, and Rep. Mathias of Maryland mer of 1957, proved to be a season of severe drought in introduced a bill directing the Weather Bureau to study and around the target area. Word of the program got the matter and report. Protest meetings were organized around among the farmers and gave rise to the notion, in several counties by a variety of individuals, one an easily understandable, that the cloud seeding was in- auctioneer-become-horse-trader, another a retired air tended to suppress the formation of clouds capable of line pilot, a third the publisher of a weekly newspaper. giving severe showers and thus eliminate the danger of The organizations thus formed carried on campaigns to hail. This notion was strongly reinforced by the anom- circulate petitions calling for an end to the interference alous behavior of clouds and thunderstorms during the with the natural course of the weather. drought period, when promising-looking clouds that de- In the spring of 1963, the operating contract was trans- veloped over the Appalachian ridges frequently suc- ferred to the W. E. Howell Associates, Inc. The season cumbed to the downdrafts of lee waves and disappointed began inauspiciously, with a period of almost complete the farmers' expectations of rain. Reports of airplanes drought from mid-April to mid-May before the cloud seen flying through rain clouds and breaking them up seeding began; and when I learned of the opposition were widely circulated to an audience already suffering by the local farmers, I arranged to meet a group of them from drought and very anxious over its future course. under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Farmers Asso- Many individual protests were made in the form of let- ciation. I found them firmly convinced of the effective- ters to the editors of the local newspapers, discussions in ness of cloud seeding for dissipating rain storms and local taverns and barber shops, and comment in farmer naturally inclined to be extremely distrustful of those organizations such as the Grange and the Farm Bureau. whom they blamed for the misfortune of drought and The majority of these discussions carried a firm convic- of all who agreed with the cloud seeders in any way or tion not only that the purpose of the program was to who disagreed with their own notions. suppress the development of intense storms but also that The heat of the discord fluctuated during the season the purpose was brilliantly achieved and actually inter- in inverse ratio to the rainfall, which was relatively ade- fered with the formation of rain showers of all sizes. quate in late May and June, but shifted back to drought Fortunately, during the succeeding four seasons rain- in July and August. In August the petition of a number fall was adequate in the target area, and opposition to of farmer groups to the County Commissioners of Wash- the program was largely forgotten. However, in 1962 ington County, Maryland, resulted in the calling of hear- drought began early in the season and intensified ings and the formation of a Fact-Finding Committee throughout the summer. Intense opposition was directed under the chairmanship of State Senator George Snyder, not only against the Weather Modification Company who invited representatives of the orchardists and the but also individual orchardists enrolled in the program, farmers to sit down together in an effort to bring order and many of the orchardists received anonymous threats, to the situation. A series of meetings held during the were boycotted by their neighbors, and in similar ways autumn of 1963 resulted in referral of the matter to the made to feel the strength of local feeling. One of the National Farm Bureau Federation office in Washington, orchardists, who suffered loss of 200-or-so prize fruit trees with other matters before the Committee in complete destroyed by vandals, made an effort to overcome the deadlock. The chairmanship of the Committee passed opposition by inviting the opponents to a meeting ad- to Mr. Noah Kefauver, president of the Maryland Farm dressed by a prominent cloud physicist, but it backfired Bureau, who declined to call further meetings despite

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:22 PM UTC Vol. 46, No. 6., June 1965 the urgings of the orchardists, and so the Fact-Finding actively backing legislation to prohibit weather modifica- Committee entered limbo. tion, these arguments are perhaps worthy of some review. The fates intervened again by bringing a third suc- During periods of drought die notion of artificial in- cessive drought season in the summer of 1964. The small terference with the natural course of thunderstorm devel- county organizations that had been formed in 1963 in- opment received repeated reinforcement from observa- corporated themselves as the Natural Weather Associa- tion. For example, during the summer seasons of 1963 tion of Pennsylvania, etc., in each of the four states into and 1964, cold front passages were frequently accom- which the target area extends, Pennsylvania, Maryland, panied by anomalous northwesterly winds which carried Virginia, and West Virginia. These organizations spon- the clouds and showers along tracks very obviously dif- sored a series of meetings throughout the target area and ferent from those followed during normal seasons. On in some adjoining counties which were addressed by many occasions the large-scale weather situation was fa- speakers who repeated and elaborated the notion of vorable for rainfall in the Ohio valley but extremely un- storm suppression by cloud seeding, argued that farmers favorable along the Atlantic coast, so that the front and orchardists alike were being misled by the silver- passages were accompanied by fairly strong shower ac- tivity to the west of the Appalachians which tapered tongued scientists and those who agreed with them, and rapidly as the front crossed the ridges, accompanied by put forward the argument that the farmers as land own- rapid diminution in the shower activity. To this was ers were entitled to receive the weather in its natural added the effect of lee waves in causing further dissipa- form, along with its concomitant disasters. In the 1965 tion of the convective clouds in selected localities, a legislative year, these organizations have sponsored legis- situation that has been shown by several studies to be lation in West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania strongly related to the northwesterly anomalous winds. that would effectively prohibit cloud seeding, and are These weather situations did indeed give rise to numer- preparing similar legislation for the 1966 session of the ous instances when storm clouds, seen in a direction that Virginia legislature. In these measures, they have won normally connotes the approach of rain, passed the farm- the active support of local farmer organizations such as ers by without wetting their fields, or broke up in an the Pennsylvania Farmers Association, the West Virginia unexpected manner. Farm Bureau, and the Maryland Milk Producers Asso- ciation. They have organized strong support for these Taking as a point of departure the notion that the bills at hearings before state legislative committees, ob- cloud seeding was intended to break up rain clouds and taining resolutions from numerous organizations and prevent their growth, the opponents of the hail suppres- bringing busloads of farmers to attend the hearings. In sion program searched the meteorological literature for mid-March of 1965, the Blue Ridge Weather Modifica- items that would support this notion. The result is a tion Association was forced to declare a one-year suspen- motley and somewhat confusing collection. There is, for sion of the hail suppression program when it became example, the statement by Joe Silverthorne based on his obvious that the legislative situation would not be re- experiences in Honduras that he could either stimulate solved in time for the 1965 summer program to be car- or suppress the growth of large cumulus at will. Other ried out in an orderly manner. experiments on the dissipation of clouds, including those Opposition was also organized from other directions. reported by Weickmann, in cutting holes in supercooled Ordinances were passed in the early summer of 1964 in stratiform cloud decks, and the preliminary reports of many townships of south-central Pennsylvania prohibit- the Navy Department on the use of carbon black, were ing cloud seeding from being carried out within these widely circulated. A reference to an experiment in Nor- townships. The Howell Associates initiated a legal test way designed to delay the formation of precipitation in of one of these ordinances on the grounds of its being clouds near the coast and thus permit transportation of patently beyond the justifiable need of remedy and an the moisture farther inland and its later precipitation invasion of individual liberty without sufficient basis. In there was reported to the protest meetings as a successful addition, the Natural Weather Association of Pennsyl- program of preventing excessive rain over the farmlands vania sought an injunction to stop further cloud seeding. along the coast and thus, over a period of four years, These two actions are being heard before the same court converting them from a too-rainy climate to one in which and Dr. F. W. Reichelderfer, former president of the farming was now being successfully carried on. Quota- AMS and former chief of the U. S. Weather Bureau, has tions from various authors regarding the possible effect accepted appointment by the Court as its expert witness of overseeding in interfering with the Bergeron-Findeisen to testify on the meteorological merits of the opposing mechanism have been cited, in combination with such arguments. early and over-optimistic statements as that by Langmuir in 1947 that the entire atmosphere could be seeded with 3. Sources of anti-cloud seeding arguments 200 pounds of silver iodide. A description in one text- book of silver iodide as a highly corrosive substance, in Since the arguments presented in opposition to the Blue itself exaggerated and unjustified, was seized upon as an Ridge hail suppression program have been effective in excuse for representing the cloud seeding as a health haz- convincing large numbers of people, in obtaining sig- natures to thousands of petitions, and in sponsoring and ard, polluting the atmosphere with undesirable and dan-

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:22 PM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society gerous materials, and possibly endangering farm equip- from experiments have been harmful. The statement ment, etc., by its corrosive effects. would perhaps have been more to the point if it had Superimposed upon these more or less technical argu- included the prevention of rainfall among the applied ments was the anxiety lest unfamiliar and potent forces skills not presently possessed by anyone. At a hearing might get out of control and wreak unknown havoc. The held before the Maryland Senate Committee on Agricul- rhetorical question is asked, "By continual cloud seeding, ture on a bill to prohibit cloud seeding in that state, are we going to upset the climate for the rest of our opponents of cloud seeding quoted at length National lives?" The artificial creation of drought was compared Research Council Publication 1236, "Scientific Problems to the Thalidomide disaster and the pollution of milk of Weather Modification," to support the contention that with pesticides as illustrations of the mistakes of science, the hail suppression program was being carried on with- and experimenters in weather modification were pictured out professional or scientific basis of any sort and was as recklessly and irresponsibly endangering the public. an imposition on the farmers and the orchardists alike. The expressed uncertainties regarding the effectiveness At these same hearings, supporters of the hail suppression of cloud seeding were interpreted as uncertainties as to program were unable to obtain the attendance of a single whether such widespread consequences might not be qualified spokesman for any segment of the meteorologi- a present danger. In its legal arguments, the Natural cal profession not directly connected with the operation Weather Associations advanced the doctrine that every of the Blue Ridge hail suppression program. land owner is entitled as a matter of natural right to receive the weather, rain, fog, hail, etc., in its natural 4. Policy for the future? form, and that any interference with the weather by While the situation described in the preceding para- cloud seeding, even when intended for the mitigation of graphs has been of principal concern to a single com- a natural disaster, is an invasion of this right and an mercial weather modification program, it raises implica- interference with the enjoyment by the land owner of tions concerning professional conduct of weather modi- his property. fication for practical purposes of any sort, as well as Attempts to counter these arguments by reference, for questions relating to the legislative control of weather example, to the effect that cloud dissipation such as cut- modification and the legal adjudication of disputes that ting holes in supercooled stratiform cloud decks is in- may arise from it. The disputes that have arisen here, variably accompanied by a certain amount of precipita- the attitudes displayed and the measures taken have been tion, or by reference to the statements of recognized experienced elsewhere in the past and may be expected authorities regarding the dissipation of rain clouds, has to recur in the future. They are equally pertinent to been partially successful in containing some of the ef- weather modification programs whether carried on com- fects of the opposition to cloud seeding, but it has failed mercially for more or less private ends, or under govern- completely in overcoming the basic distrust that has ment sponsorship for public ends. become deeply rooted throughout the farming commu- The situation in which large numbers of people can nity or in removing the obstacles that have been raised be persuaded that it is scientifically possible, and actually to the conduct of cloud seeding programs. In 1963, a the current practice to break up rain clouds and suppress presentation before the Pennsylvania House Committee rainfall, is one that exhibits a failure of communication on Public Health and Welfare, backed up by letters between the scientific community and a considerable seg- from a few recognized cloud physicists, were sufficient to ment of society. The channels of scientific communica- kill the bill under consideration at that time to outlaw tion cannot hope, of course, to reach every crank who cloud seeding. On the other hand, the 1957 statement on holds peculiar notions, but it should perhaps hope to weather modification by the Council of the American prevail in the discussions and the councils of social or- Meteorological Society has been cited by the anti-cloud- ganizations such as the Farm Bureau, and surely should seeders as confirming their contention that clouds can be brought to bear in the halls of legislature and the be dissipated, and since this statement contains no clear courts of law. In most professions that are subject to reference to the limits under which dissipation can occur regulation and licensing by the states, the professional or to the consequences on rainfall amounts, its effect has societies concerned have provided means of bringing been highly equivocal. The same may be said of the re- pertinent technical information and authoritative opin- port of the Committee on Cloud Physics regarding ion directly to bear on proposed legislation in their own HR 8708, which stated, "To our knowledge there is no fields, and make it a practice to be represented in person scientific proof that weather modification experiments at appropriate legislative hearings. have been harmful to anyone—either those occupants of Over the course of the past two years, efforts to ob- land underlying cloud seeding experiments, or to those tain extension and/or clarification of the statements on located remotely from the cloud seeding sites." The weather modification by the Council of the American farmer, already distrustful and anxious, naturally won- Meteorological Society, in order to make these statements ders what evidence short of scientific proof may have more directly applicable to the basic questions involved been swept under the rug by that statement, or whether in the present dispute, have been to no avail. The only practical applications of weather modification as distinct other agencies in the United States that might speak

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with an authoritative voice for the meteorological pro- courses of action so that an informed and knowledgeable fession are those bureaus of government having a direct citizenry can participate in policy decisions" has not been responsibility in one way or another in weather modifi- given practical expression in the fields of controversy cation: the U. S. Weather Bureau and the National Sci- related to applications of weather modification, and the ence Foundation. The position of the Bureau, as ex- hopes of the Cloud Physics Committe "to establish pressed by its chief, is that "Great uncertainties surround bridges of understanding between the meteorological weather control at the present time and the Weather community and the general public" have not been real- Bureau can take no position other than that data pres- ized. A considerable step in that direction might be ac- ently available are insufficient to render an informed complished through the creation by the Council of a opinion." The National Science Foundation and other committee on weather modification with representation government agencies concerned with weather modifica- of applied as well as research interests, and with a di- tion have refrained from any statements or involvements. rective to make information and guidance available in Up to this time, the policy of the Council "to provide specific instances of legislation bearing on weather modi- the general public factual information and, when ap- fication and other circumstances related to the develop- propriate, estimates of the likely effects of alternative ment of public policy on this topic.

Maryland Senate Bill 348 WHEREAS, since responsible people have taken opposite views on this question, some action must be taken to prove (prohibiting cloud seeding) or disprove one or the other of the opposing sides of cloud seeding; and [Enacted by General Assembly and, on WHEREAS, a number of studies of weather control are being 30 March 1965, approved by Governor.] undertaken by the United States Congress, by other public AN ACT to add new Section 11 OA to Article 66C of the groups and by private groups, and it is desirable to prevent further conflict until solutions can be found; now therefore, Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition), title SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary- "Natural Resources", subtitle "Agriculture", to follow land, That new Section 11 OA be and it is hereby added to immediately after Section 110 thereof and to be under Article 66C of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edi- the new sub-heading "Cloud Seeding", to prohibit tion), title "Natural Resources", sub-title "Agriculture", to persons in the State from engaging in weather modi- follow immediately after Section 110 thereof, to be under the fication by means of cloud seeding or otherwise, to new sub-heading "Cloud Seeding", and to read as follows: prohibit the use of ground generators for weather modification, both for a limited period of time and to Cloud Seeding provide for the automatic expiration of this Act. 110A. (a) In or over any part of the State, for a period be- ginning with the effective date of this section and ending on WHEREAS, for a number of recent years farmers in parts of September 1, 1967, it is unlawful for any person to engage in the State have suffered through drouth conditions, which any form of cloud seeding or any other artificial form of have been most severe during the last three growing seasons; weather modification. and (b) It is unlawful for any person during the period in sub- WHEREAS, drouth conditions have caused serious and irrep- section (a) of this section to use any ground generator for the arable financial losses to the farming community of the State; purposes of weather modification. and (c) Violation of this section is punishable upon conviction WHEREAS, it is the considered opinion of many persons that by fine not to exceed $1,000 or by imprisonment not to ex- man-created modification of the weather is a contributing fac- ceed three years or by both fine and imprisonment. tor to recent drouth conditions; and SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act is effective WHEREAS, the orchardist supports weather modification by for the period from the date of its effectiveness until Septem- means of cloud seeding (the dropping of silver iodide particles ber 1, 1967 and after that date it automatically expires with- into a cloud) and the use of ground generators in order to out any further action by the General Assembly. prevent the fall of hail, while the farmer opposes change in SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That this Act is hereby natural weather conditions by the above means, and the con- declared to be an emergency measure and necessary for the flict between the two interests cannot be reconciled; and immediate preservation of the public health and safety, and WHEREAS, there is a public need for dispassionate review of having been passed by a yea and nay vote supported by three- cloud seeding problems so that there will be no repetition of fifths of the members elected to each of the two houses of the the unfortunate incidents of violence which have occurred General Assembly, the same shall take effect from the date of recently; and its passage.

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