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00253/2 Design Workshop were held. At the Skywater IX Conference in November 1976, more than 60 natural, chemical, and social scientists consid- ered "Precipitation Management and the Environment." The participants surveyed past research into the environmental and social implications of cloud seeding to determine the knowledge currently available. They identified several areas for additional study, but also said that in some fields, environmental monitoring would be sufficient to identify effects of seeding, if they occur. In December 1977, the HIPLEX Design Workshop assessed the scientific basis for initiating a randomized cloud seeding experiment on warm- season convective clouds. The consensus of the 60 atmospheric scientists at the workshop was that current knowledge of cloud and precipitation processes in moderate-sized convective clouds in Montana and the ability to measure the effects of seeding were sufficient to permit the start of a field experiment in 1979. The workshOp also identified some details for resolution before the final design was completed. The 1978 Montana field activity concen- t rated on th ese items. At the Skywater X Conference in June 1978, more than 90 scientists, concerned citizens, and representatives of state and local groups gathered to evaluate the Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project Proposed Design. Conference participants indicated a general acceptance of the project on scientific, environmental, and social grounds. Conference discussions and the recommendations of the speci al work- shops on Tracing, Extended Area of Effects, and Hypotheses will be added to the results of the first three phases of the project to produce a final design prior to the project exploratory phase. The programmatic Project Skywater Final Environmental Statement (INT-FES 77-39) was filed with the Council on Environmental Quality, October 25,1977. The statement is based on continuing environmental research initiated by the Office of Atmospheric Resources Management in 1964, more than 4 years before the National Environmental Policy Act became law. It exami nes the effect that cloud seeding may have if the,technology is applied over long periods of time. The 1978 report 1/ to the Secretary of Commerce from the Weather Modificat ion Advlsory 80ard states: "The key conclusion in this 1/ "The Management of Weather Resources, Volume I, Proposals for a National Policy and Program," A Report to the Secretary of Commerce from the Weather Modification Advisory Board, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., June 1978. 1-3