Congressional Republicans are demanding action and threatening the Canadian government with sanctions and other punitive measures in response to the wildfires that have sent plumes of smoke across the Midwest and Northeast, worsening air-quality conditions.
The recriminations kicked off this week when four lawmakers in Michigan’s Republican delegation penned a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, calling for accountability for the smoke traveling across the border.
“We are done accepting apologies in place of action,” said the letter, signed by Reps. Jack Bergman, John James, Lisa McClain and John Moolenaar. “If Canada will not manage its forests to prevent these fires, the United States will look elsewhere, and act on our own, to protect our people. That means our own agencies exploring direct involvement in cross-border fuel reduction and firefighting capacity.”