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<br />3.2.1 Licensing Criteria. Before the time of scientific <br />artificial nucleation rainmaking acquired a bad reputation. <br />Successful performance of promises to change the weather was <br />a matter of luck; unsuccessful efforts were more common. <br />The public, having been once bit, understandably would like <br />to minimize future risk of being bilked by incompetent or <br />dishonest weather modifiers. Several regulatory strategies <br />are possible: outlaw cloud seeding, register weather modifiers, <br />license them, etc. Following the precedent adopted wi~h such <br />other professions as engineering, accountancy, medicine, and <br />law, the states which have addressed the question have decided <br />to use licensing. <br /> <br />Because competency is of primary importance, licensing <br />criteria in most states focuses upon it. Two major factors <br />are addressed: educational qualifications and operational <br />experience. These are usually merely referred to in legislation <br />and then fleshed out by administrative rules. They differ <br />from state-to-state, but usually they speak of a minimum number <br />of academic credit hours of college work in meteorology, engineer- <br />ing, mathematics, and/or other ph,ysical sciences. And they <br />talk in terms of a certain number of years of field experience <br />with weather modification projects. Professional certification <br />by the Weather Modification Association is considered by some <br />states. Integrity requirements are more vague, and usually <br />mean that successful applicants have not been shown to be <br />dishonest. <br /> <br />3.2.2 Licensing' Procedures. Applicants for various <br />professional licenses usually initiate the process by filing <br />formal application forms. In some states administrators only <br />have power to determine whether the application process has <br />been fully completed. If so, they must exercise their ministerial <br /> <br />3-4 <br />