Energy & Environment

Energy & Environment

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EPA defends questioners while debunking conspiracy

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said Thursday that Americans have “legitimate questions” about airplane contrails as his agency launches webpages aimed at combatting misinformation on the topic

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Contrails, the vapor trails that follow high-flying airplanes, are the subject of the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory, which baselessly alleges that the trails are actually chemicals that are used for secret purposes, including weather modification.

The EPA published a webpage Thursday with information about contrails and geoengineering that experts tell The Hill is accurate.

Dustin Tingley, a public policy professor at Harvard University, described the EPA’s webpages as “rather thoughtful.”

“The EPA did a responsible job of taking the concerns that people might genuinely have and providing easy to understand explanations,” Tingley said.

Columbia University climate economist Gernot Wagner also said the webpages published by the EPA are accurate.

“The actual ‘About’ page on the EPA website does not seem to get it wrong,” he said.

The EPA webpage describes “chemtrails” as “a term some people use to inaccurately claim that contrails resulting from routine air traffic are actually an intentional release of dangerous chemicals........

© The Hill