Future Legal Regulation of Weather Modification

Abstract

Information about future as well as current legal regulation of weather modification is an important element in planning and operating weather modification projects. Government agencies have made and will continue to make legal changes to reflect new societal conditions. Legal regulation of weather modification is being altered in terms of regulatory de‐emphasis, cost sharing, and liability law changes. With regulatory de‐emphasis, weather modification regulation by requiring professional licenses of project operators and permits for modification projects and mandating record keeping and reporting to government agencies has been the norm. The extent of such regulation, however, is diminishing. With cost sharing, weather modification project sponsors who use government funds are being required by law and executive policy to bear a larger share of operational and regulatory costs. Finally, with liability law changes, operators and their sponsors now have less exposure to legal liability than before because legislative tort law reform is changing substantive and procedural liability law and the law of damages. This should affect future liability insurance availability, coverage, and cost.