The sky above any given point is shared by everyone below it. The operations that pass through it — commercial, military, survey, modification — affect the shared environment. The argument for transparency is simple: shared resources warrant shared records.

The Weather Modification Reporting Act of 1972 reflects this logic. Its requirement that operators disclose their activities is an acknowledgment that cloud seeding affects communities who did not consent to participate. The GAO's 2025 finding that enforcement is weak is not an argument against transparency — it is an argument for more of it.