REP. NANCY MACE BACKS LEGISLATION BANNING ATMOSPHERIC GEOENGINEERING EXPERIMENTS OVER SOUTH CAROLINA

Representative Nancy Mace today announced her support for legislation to prohibit geoengineering and atmospheric chemical experimentation over South Carolina.

House Bill 3915, sponsored by Representative Lee Gilreath, would ban the intentional release of chemicals into the atmosphere for the purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or sunlight intensity.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say: if you want to spray chemicals in our sky, you need to tell us what they are,” said Rep. Mace. 

Tennessee, Florida, and Louisiana have already enacted similar protections. Approximately 35 states have introduced comparable legislation.

“People are looking up and asking questions. They deserve answers,” Rep. Mace continued. “South Carolinians have a right to know what’s being released into the air they breathe.”

The Biden White House published a research framework on solar radiation modification in 2023, acknowledging federal interest in technologies that would inject aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight. Mace noted that such experiments, even if well-intentioned, should not proceed without public knowledge and state consent.

“We don’t let companies dump chemicals in our rivers without permission. Why would we let anyone dump them in our sky, into the air we breathe?”