Controversy Erupts Over Weather Modification Following Texas Flooding

Just days before central Texas was hit with major flooding when Tropical Storm Barry dumped 15 inches of rain over parts of Kerr County, Rainmaker Technology Corporation flew a small plane over Runge, Texas, to release silver iodide into two clouds in hopes of producing some rain for the area that was facing a drought, The Washington Post reported.

Runge is 100 miles southeast of Kerr County, where at least 96 people, including 36 children, perished in the once-in-a-century flooding over the July Fourth weekend. But did Rainmaker’s weather manipulation project play any part in the deadly flood? That’s the question some Americans — and several lawmakers — are asking amid the controversy over the Texas flooding.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin addressed concerns over weather modification and geoengineering in a video posted to X on Thursday, announcing that the Trump administration is releasing everything it knows on the topics.

“EPA shares the significant reservations many Americans have when it comes to geoengineering activities,” said Zeldin.

The Trump EPA is committed to total transparency. I tasked my team @EPA to compile everything we know about contrails and geoengineering to release to you now publicly. I want you to know EVERYTHING I know about these topics, and without ANY exception! https://t.co/izKBz0lFvr pic.twitter.com/FkOCgBm3K9

— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) July 10, 2025

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced legislation over the weekend “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.”

“We must end the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering,” Greene said.

Rainmaker CEO Augustus Doricko appeared on Fox News host Will Cain’s show on Wednesday to respond to the criticism of his company’s operations in Texas and explain that Rainmaker did not add precipitation to the region of Texas slammed by flooding.

“The question is whether or not Rainmaker cloud seeding on July 2 contributed to storms that occurred on July 4,” Cain said. “Did it enhance, did it intensify what we saw some 36 to 48 hours later?”

“Unequivocally, our cloud-seeding operations on July 2 did not impact the flooding that occurred later,” Doricko replied. “And that said, my heart and prayers are still with all the people of Texas, and all of the families that have been affected. It was a tragedy.”

Doricko said that his company complies with licensing requirements put forward by Texas, requiring them to suspend operations in areas where the National Weather Service issues flash flood or severe storm warnings.

“Our meteorologists actually proactively suspended operations a day before the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings, so we were ahead of the curve there,” Doricko added. “And even so, the precipitation that we induced, the very best operations can induce tens of millions of gallons of precipitation over hundreds of square miles. That is de minimis relative to the remnants of the tropical storm that came in and dumped trillions of gallons of precipitation.”

Some atmospheric scientists agree with Doricko, arguing that Rainmaker’s cloud-seeding operation could not have affected the flooding in Texas two days later.

“The amount of energy involved in making storms like that is astronomical compared to anything you can do with cloud seeding,” Bob Rauber, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign atmospheric science emeritus professor, told the Post. “We’re talking about a very small increase on a natural process at best.”

How does cloud seeding work?

Researchers in the United States first began experimenting with cloud seeding in the 1940s. The rain-inducing weather manipulation tactic works by sending an airplane or drones into clouds armed with small amounts of silver iodide, a chemical compound that helps form ice crystals in clouds that eventually lead to the clouds producing snow and rain. Cloud seeding can also be done through ground generators that release silver iodide into the atmosphere.

The United States military used cloud seeding during the Vietnam War, hoping to prolong the monsoon season, which would slow down the enemy’s supply lines by saturating roads and washing out river crossings.

Is cloud seeding effective?

A report published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in 2024 said that cloud seeding “may increase water availability and result in economic, environmental, and human health benefits,” but it admits that “it is difficult to evaluate the effects of cloud seeding due to limitations of effectiveness research.”

Long-term projects over the Nevada mountains have shown that cloud seeding can increase snowpack by 10% or more each year, and a 10-year cloud-seeding project in the Sierra Madre Range in Wyoming showed a 15% increase in snowpack. The benefits of cloud seeding include supplementing the water supply and fighting off droughts and wildfires, especially in the Western United States.

“My intention is to serve God,” Doricko told Cain when asked if his cloud-seeding technology is getting too close to trying to play God.

“I think that in Genesis 1:26-28 and then throughout the Psalms and the rest of the Bible, God tells us to take dominion over and steward creation for our sake, creation itself, and then to honor him. And so if there are droughts and we have the tools to mitigate the damage done by them…then we should deploy those for the sake of tending to and stewarding the world.”

Cain: Are you playing god? Are you messing with things you should not be messing with when it comes to the weather? pic.twitter.com/13fpcX6RcI

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 9, 2025

Are there risks to cloud seeding?

Some scientists have expressed concern that cloud seeding, if implemented at a large scale, could be used by governments for nefarious purposes. Along with cloud seeding being used to induce rain, it can also divert rainfall from certain areas, as was done by the Chinese government to clear skies for major events during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In 2009, an unusually massive blizzard slammed China in the country’s dry northern region, and the government-run media pointed to China’s weather modification as likely playing a part in the storm, The Wall Street Journal reported. China’s Weather Modification Office, however, denied involvement in the blizzard.

The silver iodide used in cloud seeding has also been the subject of debate, since silver iodide is a toxic chemical. Proponents of cloud seeding argue that the amount of silver iodide used for the practice is so small that it has no measurable effect on humans or the environment, but some studies have pointed to potential risks for aquatic life from silver iodide in an area that gets repeated exposure.