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Hey everybody. 
Welcome back to the Elon Musk 

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Podcast. 
This is a show where we discuss 

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the critical crossroads, the 
Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The 

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Boring Company, and Neurolink. 
I'm your host, Will Walden. 

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First, I yield to Ranking Member
Stansbury for her opening 

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statement. 
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. 

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Well, DOGE is back and there's 
going to be a lot to unpack in 

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this hearing. 
But I think first and foremost, 

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we want to acknowledge that the 
purpose of this subcommittee and

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why it was created in the 1st 
place by the majority was to 

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root out waste, fraud and abuse.
That's literally the mandate for

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the DOGE subcommittee, and I 
want to emphasize that we remain

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focused on that mission. 
In fact, we are working on a 

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report on the waste, fraud and 
abuse that we're currently 

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seeing in this administration. 
And I think it's important to 

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also recognize that we are 14 
days from a government shutdown.

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And so I'm troubled to see that 
the subcommittee, which is 

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designed to address government 
spending, to streamline 

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efficiency of government 
programs, has strayed so far 

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from its mission, especially as 
there's such pressing matters 

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facing our country, including a 
government shutdown. 

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The passage of the big ugly 
bill, which not only drove the 

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federal deficit by $4 trillion, 
but is kicking millions of 

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Americans off their healthcare 
and about to make their 

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healthcare premiums go up, 
tariffs that are causing 

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inflation to go up and putting 
small family businesses out of 

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business And administration 
that's flouting the rule of law 

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every day. 
And a total lack of transparency

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in the Epstein case is the 
administration has still refused

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to comply with the subpoena that
this committee issued. 

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So there's a lot of important 
things that this committee could

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tackle. 
And I would think that a topic 

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involving environmental science 
would be more well suited to a 

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committee that actually deals 
with science or environmental 

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issues. 
But I am happy to talk about 

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climate change and weather 
modification. 

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It's a topic that I've spent 
many years in my career working 

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on. 
In fact, I worked more than 20 

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years as a water resources 
manager working on drought and 

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water planning issues in the 
state of New Mexico. 

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So and I know how important 
addressing drought and water 

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issues is for our farmers and 
ranchers out there and 

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personally and professionally, 
there's a lot to discuss with 

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respect to weather modification 
and so. 

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We're going to talk about it. 
Let's talk. 

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About it. 
Certainly there's a lot of DOGE 

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related topics we could talk 
about with respect to climate 

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change and weather programs, 
including the dismantling of 

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climate, natural resources and 
emergency response programs, the

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firing of federal officials, 
dismantling of EPA, the illegal 

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freezing of federal funding, 
removal of the US from 

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international climate 
agreements, dismantling clean 

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energy programs, catastrophic 
response to natural disasters, 

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including what we saw in Texas. 
And all of these topics would be

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ripe for an oversight hearing. 
So I hope that we can use this 

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hearing to discuss some of those
issues. 

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But with respect specifically to
weather modification, whether 

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it's cloud seeding or other 
technologies, I actually agree 

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with many of the assertions 
about the need for further 

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discussion for their science and
potentially further regulation 

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of these particular 
technologies. 

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But it's important that we 
distinguish between fact and 

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fiction, between clickbait and 
real solutions. 

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So let's talk about some facts. 
Weather modification and cloud 

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seeding, as was mentioned, it's 
a real thing. 

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It exists. 
It has been practice in varying 

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forms since the 1940s. 
Increasingly, folks are looking 

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at this as a opportunity to 
increase rain and precipitation.

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But the science is still out on 
many of these technologies, and 

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we absolutely need to understand
what are the implications for 

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air quality, for precipitation, 
and the implications also for 

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water rights in the West, 
because this could have far 

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reaching implications. 
But it's also important to 

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understand that many of these 
technologies are in the R&D 

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phase. 
They're in limited use in the 

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number of states. 
And it's not actually 

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technologies that the federal 
government even widely supports.

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This is largely in the private 
sector. 

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So in the world of science, it 
is widely acknowledged that more

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science is needed to understand 
use, efficacy and impacts of 

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these technologies. 
So those are the facts. 

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Those are the facts. 
But it's hard to understand why 

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we're discussing banning these 
practices outright in this 

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committee when the oversight 
committee in another 

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subcommittee, literally as we're
sitting here right now, is 

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having a hearing about 
dismantling the Environmental 

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Protection Agency. 
And the actual bill under 

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discussion in this committee is 
trying to use the EPA to 

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regulate these particular 
practices. 

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So the inconsistency and 
governance is very, very 

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confusing here. 
But there's a more insidious 

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issue here, which I think we've 
already heard and some of the 

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comments, which is the using. 
Of the. 

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Platform of Congress to proffer 
anti science theories to 

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platform climate denialism and 
to ultimately put our 

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communities at risk by 
continuing to put out 

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disinformation. 
So I'm grateful that we're 

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joined today by Doctor 
McCracken, who has spent his 

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career very distinguishedly at 
the national labs helping to 

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bring together scientists 
globally and across the United 

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States to understand climate 
change, its impacts and to help 

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our communities really 
understand what is real here in 

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terms of the science. 
And we hope to dig in to 

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understand what we can do to 
help address drought, fire and 

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flooding and how it's impacting 
our communities. 

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So with that, I yield back and I
think the gentlelady, hey, thank

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you so much for listening today.
I really do appreciate your 

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support. 
If you could take a second and 

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hit the subscribe or the follow 
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It helps out the show 

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tremendously and you'll never 
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please take care of yourselves 
and each other and I'll see you 

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tomorrow.
