Oregon’s regulation of weather modification is now at the center of an extensive records and investigation demand served on Gov. Tina Kotek, the Oregon Attorney General, the Oregon Department of Justice and agricultural officials, seeking years of documentation involving cloud seeding, atmospheric releases, aircraft and drone operations, chemicals, environmental testing, government communications and the financing behind weather-modification projects.
Oregon resident William H. Minnix, representing himself, issued the 18-page Notice of Intent to Commence Civil Action and Demand for Investigation, Preservation of Evidence, and Public Records on Aug. 27. His filing asks state officials to produce records dating to Jan. 1, 2020, preserve potentially relevant evidence and investigate how weather-modification activities have been licensed, conducted and monitored across Oregon.
Minnix separately notified Kotek through her chief of staff that the governor had been served in both her official and individual capacities. Another notice was sent to the Oregon Attorney General and Department of Justice, with Minnix requesting that the material be forwarded to the government attorneys, agencies and records custodians responsible for the matters raised in the filing.
At the heart of the 18-page notice is a straightforward demand for information: Minnix wants Oregon to identify who has received authorization to conduct weather modification, where those operations have taken place, what materials have been used, how much was released, what aircraft or drones were involved, who financed the projects and what environmental or public-health testing accompanied the work.
Oregon government records confirm that weather modification and cloud seeding have been subjects of state regulation and official discussion. Oregon Department of Agriculture meeting records from 2025 addressed state weather-modification laws, cloud-seeding techniques and permitting requirements. Meeting minutes also recorded that two applications had recently been submitted and one had been approved for licensing.
That state activity figures prominently in Minnix’s demand. Rather than limiting his request to permits themselves, he is seeking the operational trail behind them, including applications, approvals, renewals, amendments, denials, withdrawals, flight records, geographic boundaries, mission reports and information identifying the people and organizations authorized to perform the work.
Rainmaker Technologies is specifically identified in the notice. Minnix requests the company’s application, licensing, permitting, operational and regulatory records involving activities conducted or proposed in Umatilla County, Pendleton, eastern Oregon and elsewhere in Oregon.
His request also seeks the identities of companies, government agencies, contractors, subcontractors, aircraft operators, pilots, drone operators and weather-modification operators authorized to conduct activities in the state. Counties, coordinates, flight areas, target zones, release areas and locations where weather modification has been authorized or conducted are included in the records demand.
The requested operational records become considerably more detailed. Minnix seeks flight and drone logs, mission reports, dates of operations, aircraft identification, pilot information, mission authorizations, material inventories, quantities released and precise release locations.
He also wants the state to identify substances connected with those operations. Silver iodide, salts, hygroscopic materials, dry ice, aerosols, particulates and other atmospheric-release materials are specifically named in the filing. The request covers the chemical composition and quantity of substances authorized, proposed, purchased, transported, possessed or reported as released.
Environmental records make up another significant portion of the filing. Minnix seeks toxicology information, Safety Data Sheets, environmental assessments, risk assessments, scientific studies and evaluations examining air, soil, precipitation, surface water, groundwater, human health, animal health and wildlife.
He further requests records supporting government determinations that weather-modification activities would not harm public health, agricultural operations, livestock, wildlife, crops, soil or Oregon’s water resources. Testing for silver iodide and other materials associated with weather modification in rain, snow, groundwater, surface water, vegetation, crops, livestock and wildlife is also included.
The breadth of the request extends well beyond the Department of Agriculture. Minnix identifies records potentially held by the Governor’s Office, Department of Justice, Department of Environmental Quality, Oregon Health Authority, Water Resources Department, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Forestry, Department of Transportation and Oregon State University.
Federal agencies that could possess relevant information are also identified, including the Federal Aviation Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force.
Minnix is seeking communications involving ODA and Rainmaker Technologies as well as correspondence involving the City of Pendleton, Pendleton UAS Range, Umatilla County and state and federal agencies connected to the activities described in the notice.
Money is part of the inquiry as well. Contracts, grants, invoices, payments, sponsorship agreements, funding agreements, purchase orders and reimbursements are requested in an effort to identify the organizations or government entities that financed weather-modification projects.
The preservation demand accompanying the records request reaches into nearly every form of documentation that could establish how an operation was planned, approved or conducted. Minnix asks officials to retain emails, text messages, photographs, videos, flight and drone records, GPS information, telemetry, radar data, weather records, laboratory results, environmental samples, permits, licenses, inspection reports, complaints, investigative reports, meeting records, maps and scientific studies.
His notices to the Governor’s Office and Department of Justice specifically reinforce that preservation request. Minnix told the Attorney General that potentially relevant information maintained by ODA, the Governor’s Office, DOJ and other state agencies or officials should be preserved.
The filing also seeks complaints submitted by Oregon residents, previous government investigations, enforcement actions, environmental and health concerns and records concerning weather-modification operations suspected of being conducted without required authorization.
Minnix does not state in the notice that every aircraft trail observed over Oregon represents an intentional chemical release. He expressly says the filing does not treat every visible contrail as a so-called “chemtrail” or presume that a particular substance has been unlawfully released. His request seeks the records and scientific evidence he believes are necessary to determine what activities actually occurred and whether they complied with Oregon and federal law.
If those records establish unlawful conduct or legally recognized injury, Minnix identifies several potential avenues for litigation. They include alleged violations of Oregon environmental and weather-modification laws, negligence, nuisance, trespass, interference with property rights, contamination of natural resources, failure to perform required environmental reviews and possible constitutional claims. The notice also identifies a potential federal civil-rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 if the necessary legal requirements can be established.
Possible remedies described in the filing include environmental testing, independent scientific review, court-ordered disclosure of government records, injunctions, preservation and production of evidence and damages where legally available.
Minnix has also notified state officials that the investigation could lead to an attempted class-action case involving similarly situated rural Oregon residents. Such an action has not been certified. The notice states that any proposed class would have to satisfy federal or Oregon requirements and receive approval from a court.
The scale of the records request could provide considerably more information about Oregon weather modification than a licensing document alone. Minnix is seeking the complete chain of activity surrounding the programs: applicants, government approvals, locations, aircraft, pilots, substances, quantities, environmental evaluations, communications, funding and any complaints or investigations generated along the way.
For rural Oregon, Minnix centers the inquiry on resources that are inseparable from agriculture and everyday life, including rainfall, irrigation supplies, groundwater, soil, livestock, crops, forests and wildlife.
“The people of rural Oregon have a legitimate interest in knowing what activities are occurring in their skies, what materials are being introduced into the atmosphere, who is responsible, who authorized those activities, what scientific evidence supports them, and whether those activities comply with Oregon and federal law,” Minnix wrote.
The Aug. 27 action now puts a substantial records demand before Oregon’s executive, legal and agricultural authorities. The information Minnix is requesting reaches from the government offices issuing weather-modification approvals to the aircraft, materials, environmental evaluations and financial arrangements behind individual operations, creating a documentary record that could determine whether his inquiry ends with disclosure of public information or proceeds into litigation.