MIDWEST SHROUDED IN CLOUDS AS JET FUEL INDUSTRY RACES TO DUMP STOCKPILE BEFORE REGULATIONS HIT
May 5, 2025 — By Julian Baird, Staff Writer
Chicago, IL — Residents from Des Moines to Dayton have spent the last two weeks under an almost unbroken ceiling of pale, milky cloud cover, sparking frustration among meteorologists and speculation among locals. But now, leaked documents and whistleblower testimony suggest an unsettling reason for the lingering gloom: jet fuel producers are burning off their final supplies of a controversial additive before federal regulations take effect on May 15.
Dubbed “Compound A7” in internal memos, the additive was developed in the late 1990s as a performance enhancer for high-altitude military craft. But according to environmental watchdogs, the chemical has a lesser-known side effect: it promotes the formation of persistent contrails that spread into high-altitude cirrus clouds, gradually dimming sunlight and disrupting local climates.
The Environmental Safety and Aviation Reform Act (ESARA), passed earlier this year after decades of lobbying and stalling, bans the production and use of any aviation fuel containing particulate-bonding agents not certified by the EPA. “Compound A7 never went through EPA review,” said Dr. Martha Hollander, a chemical atmospheric physicist at the University of Michigan. “But it’s been in civilian circulation under obscure labeling loopholes since at least 2009.”
Now, insiders say, producers are offloading remaining reserves at steep discounts to private cargo lines and military contractors before enforcement begins.
“The strategy is to use it before they lose it,” said a former logistics coordinator for PolarChem Fuels, one of the companies implicated. “They’re flying extra routes — often empty — just to burn through tanks of this stuff. The Midwest is getting blanketed because the airspace is less congested and there’s less media attention.”
Residents are noticing. “It’s like the sun got evicted,” said Marjorie Denning, a farmer outside Peoria. “My barley sprouted three days late. I haven’t seen blue sky in nearly two weeks.”
Meteorologists are seeing the effects too. “We’re experiencing a rare phenomenon where human activity is causing a kind of slow-motion weather manipulation,” said Clay Morris, a meteorologist with WGN. “Satellite imagery shows persistent contrail grids forming an artificial cloud canopy across much of the central U.S.”
Environmental groups are calling for immediate intervention, including no-burn orders and fines for carriers caught using the additive. But with ten days until the law goes into effect, enforcement remains light.
“The regulation has no teeth until May 15,” said Sierra Council director Angela Reves. “They’re exploiting a legal gray area. The EPA knows it, the FAA knows it, and still—here we are, under artificial skies.”
As the cloud coverage persists and public outrage grows, congressional hearings are expected to begin this Thursday. Until then, Midwest residents are advised to expect continued overcast conditions — and perhaps, a few more unanswered questions hanging in the air.
DISCLAIMER I made this up. ("it's bullshit, but I believe it"). We haven't had a sunny day in months. They don't want us getting UVB because UVB gives our bodies vitamin D. They really want to push sicknesses right now. Fuck the CIA and fuck DARPA.