No, Chemtrails Are Not Real or Causing Floods, E.P.A. Says

No, chemtrails are not real, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday, in a notable instance of the Trump administration debunking a conspiracy theory that gained traction amid catastrophic flooding in Central Texas.

For decades, scientists have sought to shut down the chemtrails conspiracy theory, which asserts that the federal government is spraying harmful chemicals into the sky to control the weather, population or food supply. On Thursday, their efforts got a major boost from an unexpected source: two new E.P.A. websites that seek to “provide clear, science-based information” on chemtrail claims as well as on geoengineering, or efforts to intentionally alter Earth’s climate.

The websites generally endorse the scientific consensus, according to scientists who reviewed them. For example, they note that chemtrails are “often inaccurately” conflated with contrails, or condensation trails, which are the long, thin clouds left by airplanes as water vapor in jet-engine exhaust condenses and freezes. “I tasked my team at E.P.A. to compile a list of everything we know about contrails and geoengineering for the purpose of releasing it to you now publicly,” the E.P.A. administrator, Lee Zeldin, said in a video posted on social media.

“Instead of simply dismissing these questions and concerns as baseless conspiracies, we’re meeting them head on,” Mr. Zeldin said. “We did the legwork, looked at the science, consulted agency experts and pulled in relevant outside information to put these online resources together.”

Neither Mr. Zeldin nor the sites mentioned the baseless assertions that chemtrails or geoengineering had caused the extreme rainfall that led to the recent Texas flash floods that have killed at least 111 people and left at least 173 missing. Representatives for the E.P.A. did not respond to a request for comment about whether Thursday’s move was prompted by the floods.

Some Trump administration officials and Republican lawmakers have used their platforms to amplify the chemtrails conspiracy theory. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, has suggested without evidence that the Defense Department’s research arm is spraying Americans with harmful chemicals that have been added to jet fuel.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to stop it,” Mr. Kennedy said in a television interview in May. “Find out who’s doing it and holding them accountable.”

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, has for years spread the baseless claim that the government controls the weather. She said on Saturday that she planned to introduce a bill that “prohibits the injection, release or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate or sunlight intensity. It will be a felony offense.”

Alec Ernst, a spokesman for Ms. Greene, said in an email that “the weather modification bill was not inspired by the events in Texas. Congresswoman Greene has long discussed this issue, and the bill has been in the works for a while.”

Ms. Greene said in a social media post that her effort was aligned with a Florida bill that imposes a $100,000 fine and a five-year prison sentence on anyone who practices geoengineering or weather modification. The Florida measure, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last month, also targets cloud seeding, the practice of releasing substances like silver iodide into clouds to encourage more rain or snow.

After a colossal burst of rain caused flooding in Central Texas on July 4, a flurry of social media posts accused the cloud seeding start-up Rainmaker of prompting or exacerbating the tragedy. The chief executive of Rainmaker, Augustus Doricko, has said that while the company released silver iodide into a pair of clouds on July 2, the mission led to less than half a centimeter of rain falling on drought-stricken farmland, well below the 15 inches of rain that inundated some areas on July 4.

Mr. Zeldin has said he plans to dismantle dozens of the nation’s most significant environmental regulations, including limits on pollution from cars and power plants, protections for wetlands, and the legal basis that allows the E.P.A. to regulate the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet. These moves have drawn intense criticism from scientists and environmentalists.

Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University, said the E.P.A.’s new sites “appear to be a reasonable effort to give people the facts they need to recognize that chemtrails claims lack any scientific basis.” Still, he said, “those already convinced of the conspiracy will likely be unmoved. Instead, they’ll probably just conclude that the E.P.A. is in on the coverup.”