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Read. Follow. Verify.Wyoming Prohibits Geoengineering and Weather Modification, Establishing Criminal Penalties and DEQ Oversight
Last action · February 9, 2026: H Failed Introduction 24-38-0-0-0Sponsor: Agriculture
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What This Bill Proposed
Wyoming House Bill 12 prohibits the intentional release of s into state airspace for climate or weather modification, imposing felony penalties of up to five years in prison and $500,000 in fines for violations. The measure directs the Department of Environmental Quality to monitor airspace, issue cease and desist orders, and protect whistleblowers from retaliation. The bill failed introduction in the House on February 9, 2026.
The measure establishes criminal penalties for unauthorized atmospheric modifications while exempting commercial aviation, lawful cloud seeding, and agricultural operations. It appropriates $500,000 from the general fund for two full-time DEQ positions through June 30, 2028.
- House Bill 12 was sponsored by the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Interim Committee during the 2026 legislative session and failed introduction in the House. context
- State-level legislative efforts concerning geoengineering and weather modification seek to assert Tenth Amendment authority over federal or private atmospheric experiments. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Department of Environmental Quality
The department is tasked with monitoring airspace, studying contaminants, issuing cease and desist orders, and promulgating rules to implement the act.
Agricultural operators
Agricultural operations and chemical applications permitted by law are explicitly exempted from prohibitions under the act.
Commercial aviation operators
Standard aviation using fuels permitted by law and commercial aviation operations are exempted from the atmospheric contaminant prohibitions.
Key Facts
- Prohibits any person from intentionally injecting, releasing, or dispersing atmospheric contaminants within Wyoming or its airspace to alter climate, weather, or solar radiation.
- Defines prohibited activities to include solar radiation management, stratospheric aerosol injection, weather modification, and atmospheric polluting interventions.
- Exempts commercial aviation, satellite operations, weather forecasting, agricultural chemical application, fire suppression, snowmaking, lawful cloud seeding, and activities authorized by state environmental laws.
- Authorizes the director of the Department of Environmental Quality to study contamination threats, monitor incoming aircraft, drones, balloons, rockets, and ground facilities, and petition courts for cease and desist orders.
Show all 11 facts
- Requires the Department of Environmental Quality to notify federal, other state, or international entities committing prohibited activities that their actions are unlawful in Wyoming.
- Prohibits retaliation, harassment, discipline, or discrimination against any person reporting a suspected violation of the act.
- Establishes felony penalties for a first offense of imprisonment for not more than two years, a fine between $100,000.00 and $500,000.00, or both.
- Establishes felony penalties for a second or subsequent offense of imprisonment for not more than five years, a fine of not less than $500,000.00, or both, with each day of prohibited activity constituting a separate offense.
- Authorizes up to two full-time positions for the Department of Environmental Quality from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2028, to implement the act.
- Appropriates $500,000.00 from the general fund to the Department of Environmental Quality exclusively to fund the authorized positions.
- Requires the Department of Environmental Quality to promulgate all rules necessary to implement the act.
Frequently Asked Questions
What activities are specifically banned under the Clean Air and Geoengineering Prohibition Act?
Does the bill ban normal aviation or agricultural crop dusting?
What are the penalties for violating the act?
What funding and staffing does the bill provide?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Failed in the House.
Procedural history
3 actions- Feb 9, 2026HouseH Failed Introduction 24-38-0-0-0
- Jan 9, 2026HouseH Received for Introduction
- Dec 5, 2025Bill Number Assigned
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of DEQ Authority into Airspace Regulation
The bill shifts traditional environmental quality monitoring to actively police and monitor aircraft, drones, balloons, and space platforms entering state airspace.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.wyoleg.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 65)
- Controversy80Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment25Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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