Former Nevada City Mayor and former California gubernatorial candidate Reinette Senum says cloud seeding activity in the United States is expected to increase by 200 percent over the next few years.

She says most cloud seeding programs operate from the Colorado Rockies westward. According to Senum, pilots are hired during incoming storms and paid about $750 an hour to disperse materials. She says the process involves releasing silver iodide and chaff, described as aluminum-coated glass, and that the programs are used by irrigation districts and power companies.

Senum says cloud seeding was long denied before being publicly acknowledged, with assurances that it has been conducted for decades and is considered safe. She disputes those assurances, saying it has not been proven safe and argues that officials announced plans last year to significantly expand cloud seeding programs in the coming years.