Two bills popular with conservatives are set to be heard in the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Wednesday, 3/5.
The first, HB1112/SB1033, would make any kind of geoengineering or weather modification a Class A misdemeanor in the state. Despite legislation passed last year which technically made weather modification illegal in Tennessee, there was no mechanism for enforcement or compliance, a loophole this bill seeks to remedy.
HB1112 would allow the state Attorney General and local district attorneys to investigate violations of the law. If a report is found valid, the offenders would face a fine of $100,000 per violation, and anyone found supplying chemicals or substances for purposes of weather modification would be subject to the same penalty.
In an op-ed written for The Tennessee Conservative, Representative Monty Fritts (R-Kingston-District 32), the bill’s House sponsor, commented on the issue of weather modification, “My concerns with all geoengineering activities are both moral and constitutional. The laws of nature and nature’s God, the Almighty God our Constitution references, are the immutable and eternal boundaries for all matters. Our Constitution and all law in code are subordinate to the laws of the Creator. Modifying the weather is morally indistinguishable from transgender surgeries performed upon our children. As a matter of Scriptural fact transgenderism as a whole defies the created order and is an abomination. Man’s attempt to modify weather is equally so. Man’s attempt to increase or decrease CO2 in our atmosphere through chemical or synthesis is equally immoral.”
Conservative Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma-District 16) is carrying the SB1033 companion bill in the upper chamber which has not yet been placed on the Senate Energy, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee calendar.
The second bill to be considered by the subcommittee is HB0897/SB1141, sponsored by Rep. Chris Todd (R-Madison County- District 73) and Senator Rusty Crowe (R- Johnson City- District 3). This legislation would not only increase water testing standards for fluoride but require its complete removalfrom the public water supply.
The bill’s reduced amount of allowable detectable fluoride in quarterly testing of water supplies from 1.5 milligrams per liter (mg/L) to .4 mg/L would reduce the chemical’s presence by 73% just on its own, but the provision that public water systems, “Cease the addition of fluoride or fluoride compounds to the water supply,” by May 1, 2025, would ensure utility districts could not resort to fluoride usage.
Additionally, it would add to a section of existing law making, “The addition of fluoride, or a fluoride compound, to the public drinking water supply by the operator of a water supply system in the state,” a prohibited action.
Defluoridation has become a growing topic in the state as some lawmakers have been contemplating legislation on the subject for over a year and one utility district in Middle Tennessee recently voted to remove fluoride from their supply, citing health concerns and safety for plant employees.
The Senate companion, SB1141, also has yet to secure a date on the Senate Energy, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee calendar.
To express support for one or both bills (HB1112 or HB0897), use the information below to contact the members of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee:
Original article online at: https://tennesseeconservativenews.com/tennessee-bills-banning-geoengineering-fluoride-in-drinking-water-to-be-heard-in-house-subcommittee/