Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said Thursday (July 16) he will introduce a bill next week to sanction Canada and its government officials over wildfire smoke blanketing the eastern United States, calling the crisis an "atrocity."
The move comes as air quality across the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast deteriorated to levels the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang warned could be "as bad as or worse than during the historic 2023 wildfire event." Air quality readings in Detroit, Milwaukee and Toledo exceeded 500, well above the 300 threshold considered unsafe. Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis ranked among the four worst major cities for air quality on the planet on July 16. Spending a full day outdoors in Washington or New York was equivalent to smoking roughly 10 cigarettes, according to health experts cited in the source.
I'll be introducing a bill next week to sanction Canada and the responsible Canadian government officials for this atrocity.
Moreno blamed Canada's forest management for the recurring smoke events. Four Michigan House Republicans — Reps. John James, Jack Bergman, John Moolenaar and Lisa McClain — sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney criticizing his government for not doing enough on forest prevention. "This is the third consecutive year we have had to write to Canadian officials about a crisis that Canada has the tools to prevent and has chosen not to," they wrote.
The Daily Signal's Tony Kinnett wrote on X that "The Canadian parliament & Mark Carney's decision not to do the most basic forest maintenance out of climate activism stupidity is now threatening hundreds of millions of Americans with carcinogens." The conservative American Conservation Coalition wrote that "Canada continues to fail to manage their forests," adding that controlled burns, thinning and clearing debris would help prevent the recurring smoke.
The economic toll is already mounting. Six Flags Great America in Illinois closed Friday (July 17) because of "hazardous" air quality. Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, closed early on July 16. Dutch Wonderland amusement park announced a Friday closure. Pittsburgh-area attractions also shut down amid the smoke.
Canada has more than 700 active wildfires with 8.2 million acres already destroyed, according to a post on X by Our Country Our Choice, a group run by retired US Army Col. Douglas Macgregor. MyRadar Weather flagged that wildfire smoke could become a major weather story around Sunday's World Cup Final, with air quality already unhealthy in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Whether a US senator can sanction a close ally and trading partner over drifting wildfire smoke is an open question Moreno is about to force.