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<br />Arizona requesting that no sUDlJler cloud seeding be permitted. Osborn <br />has conjoined this paper with the issue of public policy, and no dis- <br />cussion of it can be complete without examining this issue. <br /> <br />ARIDROP sprang from a public policy decision arrived at jointly by the <br />Governor of Arizona and the Federal Office of Emergency Preparedness <br />(OEP) to use cloud seeding for emergency drought relief with the National <br />Science FOWldation fWlctioning in an advisory capacity. OEP fWlds trans- <br />ferred to the Bureau of Reclamation were committed exclusively to this <br />objective. and operations were accordingly conducted for maximum effect <br />without regard to scientific experimentation or evaluation. Certain <br />assuaptions underlay this decision: <br /> <br />a. The Flagstaff technique of cloud seeding offered a reasonable <br />expectation of significant benefit and, when restricted to clouds <br />considered suitable. no unacceptable risk of disbenefit. <br /> <br />b. Evaluation of the rainfall increase achieved in the drought <br />relief operation was not an iaportant objective of the prograa. <br /> <br />The National Science Foundation in its role as advisor did not find <br />sufficient evidence in the results of the Catalina experiments or others <br />suggesting adverse effect on rainfall to cast a reasonable doubt on the <br />Flagstaff and othe~ positive results as the matter related to ARIDROP. <br />Nothing in the evidence presented by Osborn impugns this judgment. <br /> <br />14 <br />