Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) is taking action to impose U.S. sanctions on Canada in light of the wildfire smoke that has enveloped the Midwest and East Coast this week.
“I’ll be introducing a bill next week to sanction Canada and the responsible Canadian government officials for this atrocity,” Moreno posted on X.
In a press release, his office explained Canadian officials “failed to invest in wildfire prevention methods including forest thinning, fuel reduction, prescribed burns, and stronger enforcement against arson.” As a result, wildfires have broken out and sent smoke downward to several U.S. states, including Ohio.
The smoke has primarily descended upon the Great Lakes region and the Northeast, with major metropolitan cities experiencing unhealthy air pollution levels. The air quality index numbers in New York City and Washington, D.C., for instance, are 134 and 212, respectively, as of Friday morning. The figures are steadily declining as the day progresses, though.
An early version of Moreno’s bill, dubbed the CANADA FIRE Act, seeks to declare a national emergency over the wildfire smoke and sanction any Canadian officials responsible for failing to address the issue. The legislation also includes visa restrictions for the sanctioned individuals.
The text says Secretary of State Marco Rubio should declare multiple Canadian officials “persona non grata” until President Donald Trump certifies that the AQI in affected U.S. communities remains below 100 for 90 consecutive days following the end of the wildfire smoke. Under international law, persona non grata means any foreign official is unwelcome in the host country. In this case, the United States would temporarily strip Canadian leaders of their diplomatic immunity until the issue is resolved.
The senator’s announcement of the bill came in response to a Cleveland reporter, who posted a photo of the city’s hazy sky on social media.
“I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of the wildfire smoke, but I will to sound very Cleveland,” Signal Cleveland editor-at-large Mark Naymik wrote. “A slightly more cynical colleague remarked, ‘This is what Cleveland looked like every day in 1977. And smelled worse.’”
Moreno is not the only lawmaker wishing to hold Canada accountable for the wildfire smoke. His call for sanctions came after four Michigan Republicans in the House penned a scathing letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“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,” the letter states. It was signed by Reps. John James, Jack Bergman, John Moolenaar, and Lisa McClain.
DC AIR QUALITY REACHES SEVERELY POLLUTED LEVELS AS CANADIAN WILDFIRE SMOKE ROLLS IN
“We are done accepting apologies in place of action,” they wrote. “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.”
Without directly addressing the letter, Carney said both Canada and the U.S. have a responsibility to fight climate change.
