Weather modification law and the environmental effects of snowpack enhancement

Technology for snowpack augmentation is being developed by experimental orographic cloud seeding in the Intermountain and Pacific Coast states. There are ecological, as well as meteorological and hydrological, consequences of such atmospheric water resources development. Federal and state laws establish four steps in planning and mangement which will minimize any negative aspects of snowpack enhancement. First, the National Environmental Policy Act and similar state laws require project environmental pre-assessment. There must be interdisciplinary planning and disclosure of environmental effects of large-scale governmental cloud seeding. Second, in order to comply with reporting laws, seeders must monitor projects. Obtaining data, however, is complicated by wilderness legislation. A third step is data assessment. Laws in a few jurisdictions impose upon seeders evaluation requirements. Finally, seeding programs must be altered in light of environmental data. Regulatory agencies use it to determine whether to modify operational permits or to re-issue them in subsequent years.