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6' l' "- lof issues-including liability, foreign policy, and II national security concerns-that arose in the 'I . II past and should be adequately considered betore " the U,S, government undertakes the coordinated nati.omtl research program this legislation would require," Presidential Science Advisor John Mar- burger wrote in a letter to Hutchison. Hutchison spokesperson Chris Paulitz said that despite the administration's request, the senator would like to see the Senate act on the bill "as II soon as possible," The House bill, introduced by Colorado Con- gressman Mark Udall (0), would place the coor- dinating body within the Commerce Oepartrnent, which houses NOAA. (Udall's Boulder-area elis- 'I trict is home to several NOAA laboratories, as I, well as the National Center for Atmospheric Research [NCAR]). Udall spokesperson Law- rence Pacheco said the congressman is hopeful the bill will get a hearing before the Science Committee, "These aren't pie-in-the-sky kinds Ii of ideas, These are technologies that people are using in Colorado," Pacheco said, In the Field Along with political wrangling, weather modi- 1 fication faces other challenges, Proponents argue that, partly because of past hype, their work is being held to an unrealistically high standard that is not applied to other meteorological fields, "For some reason, and I'm not sure why, cloud seeding has been singled out as something that requires 100 percent, total, complete proof that " it works," said Bruce Boe, director of meteorology at Weather Modification Inc" which is carrying out an innovative seeding operation in Wyoming (see sidebar), The five-year, $8.8 million demon- stration project could help put some of the doubts surrounding cloud seeding, one of the most publi- cized weather modification techniques, to rest, The Wyoming project is benefiting from the technological advances in meteorology that have taken place since the peak of weather ! :: modification efforts during the 1960s and 70s, From microwave radiometers to multi-polarity mdars. new technologies can help researchers " and weather modification practitioners refine their understanding of the atmosphere. It is also 'I the first large-scale endeavor to combine an operational seeding component with scientific studies to conclude with as much precision as possible how cloud seeding alters cloud physics and precipitation processes, and if those changes " result in greater snowt~llI. "It's as much about the science as it is about proving that this is an effective water management tool," said Barry Lawrence, a project manager with the Wyoming Water Development Commission, Seeding New Opportunities The Wyoming cloud seeding project aims to determine if seeding clouds with a silver iodide and acetone solution increases snowfall over the Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre, and Wind River mountain ranges, Like many Western states, Wyoming is suffering from a multi-year drought. Ifthe winter snowpack can be increased, the resulting spring runoff could boost water supplies, According to the Wyoming Water Development Commission (WWDC), a 10 percent increase in snowpack in the project's targeted areas would provide up to 260,000 acre-feet of water in additional runoff each spring, The cost per acre-foot ofthis water would be between $6,60 and $13, a figure that pales in comparison to the $159 per acre-foot figure for water from the state's new High Savery Dam. A key challenge for the researchers is to isolate the effects of cloud seeding from the background noise of natural variability, much as climate change researchers work to tease out the human-induced climate change signal from a dizzying array of natural factors, "Part of our evaluation Is trying to better understand the conditions. and hopefully find some relatively simple or inexpensive way of identifying when clouds are seedable," said Dan Breed, an NCAR researcher working on the project. Educating the public about the realities of weather modification is also a goal. Boe said that part of his job is to manage the expectations of Wyoming residents, Boe and his colleagues are quick to emphasize the limitations of cloud seed- ing when discussing their plans with the public. "We tell people what to expect ahead of time. We don't market it as a drought-busting technology," he said, "It works best when YOll've got norm<ll or near normal conditions," Modifying Prospects The Wyoming project is just one example of research a congressionally authorized commit- tee could pursue, should the legislation be put into place, Some advocates of weather modifica- tion research emphasize that modific.ltion efforts have even broader potential because they may lead to better weather and climate forecasts, It remains to be seen to what extent the fed- eral government will actually become involved in weather modification. Neither of the pending bills authorizes spending tax dollars on opera- tional projects, indicating a continued reluctance at supporting these still-controversial endeavors, It is a safe bet, however, that people will con- tinue to strive to change the weather for human benefit and financial gain. As Bruce Boe said of cloud seeding, "The technology is not going to go away, Whether or not the scienrific community embraces it, people are going to continue to use it because the botwm line is it works," fD ANDREW FREEDMAN is a freelance writer based in Chicago. JULY I AUGUST 2006 . WEATHERWISE 27