WASHINGTON, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Four congressional representatives from Michigan say “American lungs are paying the price for Canadian inaction” when it comes to wildfire smoke choking residents.
U.S. Reps. Jack Bergman, John James, Lisa McClain, and John Moolenaar sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday, saying Canada has been all talk and no action by refusing to address the underlying causes of wildfires for years.
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The representatives cited “repeated conversations” and “a lack of meaningful progress” from the Canadian government.
In their letter, the members argued, “We write today as members of Michigan’s congressional delegation to raise our voices on an issue that has already drawn letters from our colleagues in past years: wildfire smoke drifting across the border from Canada into our communities. Additionally, last year, Reps. James and Bergman each wrote letters to your government to raise the alarm about wildfire smoke pouring across our border from Canada into our communities. We write jointly this time because a year has passed, the season has come around again, and nothing has changed except that our patience has run out.”
They continued, “We were told last year that this would be treated with urgency. It was not. We were told the causes—chronic underinvestment in forest thinning, fuel reduction, prescribed burns, and inadequate enforcement against arson—were being addressed. They were not, or not adequately enough to matter to the people we represent. Provincial leaders have offered excuses instead of results and, in some cases, have openly dismissed the health of American citizens as an inconvenience to their own summer. That attitude is unacceptable from a neighbor and an ally.”
The representatives also said apologies do not replace action.
“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. It means reconsidering how much benefit of the doubt this relationship continues to earn on an issue where American lungs are paying the price for Canadian inaction, year after year. Sovereignty comes with responsibility, and the responsibility to prevent a foreseeable disaster from crossing into another country’s airspace has not been met.”
On Wednesday, residents across northern Michigan woke up to smog, poor visibility, and ash falling from the sky because of the wildfires. The smoke moved farther south as the day progressed. Conditions are expected to continue for several days.
