Geoengineering query: EIR release

Information requested

I require to know what politicians are allowing Geoengineering in our sky's.

Under DSAR I require all information on chemicals being sprayed over Scotland's sky's.

I require again who signed this without the people's permission?

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4) (a of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information on Geoengineering, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the regulator of UK civil aviation and is responsible for the planning and regulation of all UK airspace. You may wish to contact the CAA through their web site at: https://www.caa.co.uk/Our-work/Information-requests/Make-an-enquiry/ who may be able to help you.

Such observations are consistent with the formation of condensation trails or ‘contrails’. Contrails are formed in certain meteorological conditions when water vapour is emitted into the upper atmosphere as a result of the combustion of kerosene by jet aircraft. Contrails normally evaporate but occasionally, if the conditions are conducive, they may persist and spread out to form cirrus-like cloud. Since contrails typically form at high level, the aircraft concerned would have been flying inside controlled airspace and therefore in receipt of an air traffic control service from NATS.

The UK Government webpage provides further information on aircraft contrails and geoengineering which can be found via the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contrails-and-chemtrailsfrequently-asked-questions/contrails .

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.