LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It’s no secret that Michigan residents are fuming over the Canadian wildfire smoke that is turning the state’s lazy days of summer into hazy ones.

Poor Air Quality Alerts continue to waft through Michigan, and lawmakers are looking to douse the problem that’s plagued the state since June.

Summer season or fire season?

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Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller said smoky summers in Michigan cannot be the new normal. In fact, she called on Michigan native and U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra to put the pressure on Canadian officials to improve forestry management and do more to prevent these large-scale fires.

“[The Canadian government needs] to be more aggressive, because summer season shouldn’t be fire season every year for tens of millions of people on both sides of the border inhaling bad air,” Miller wrote on social media. “Whether through prescribed, controlled burns or mechanical thinning of combustible materials at the appropriate times of year, Canadian officials need to do better.”

“Choking our communities.”

Meanwhile, Congressman and GOP gubernatorial candidate John James penned a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney imploring him to take action. “Canada’s our closest ally and most important trading partner but their out-of-control wildfires are polluting Michigan’s air and choking our communities,” James said. “American families deserve clean air and a neighbor who takes our security and health concerns as seriously as Canadians expect us to take their sovereignty concerns.”

Forest management failures.

James’ colleague in the U.S. House, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte), highlighted the public health risks of Michiganders if Canada refuses to get the wildfires under control. “Michiganders shouldn’t be forced to deal with poor air quality every summer because of Canada’s inability to manage its forests,” he said.

Travelers over the Mackinac Bridge over the weekend came into close contact with the rolling smoke, as this post from X shows.

 

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Click here for more information on Michigan’s air quality.