After centuries of largely unsuccessful attempts to deal with the constantly changing weather by trying to change it, a bill pending in Washington would give government sanction to efforts to modify the climate.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space held a hearing Thursday on a bill intended to promote research into weather modification.

“It is critical that we determine if weather can be modified to the extent that lives are saved and property damage is limited,” Hutchison said.

“This work is vital, especially as we near the end of such a devastating hurricane season.”

The Modification Research and Technology Transfer Authorization Act of 2005 calls for a coordinated national research effort at both the state and federal level and would establish a Weather Modification Advisory and Research Board as part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and the recent tornado in Indiana took many lives and destroyed both property and the environment,” Hutchison said.

“By developing sustained research we can provide answers to the issues of predictability and reliability of weather modification research.”

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