Republicans Want to Punish Canada for “Exporting” Its Wildfire Smoke Into the US |
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Republican members of Congress are introducing legislation to impose sanctions on Canada over the fact that the smoke from wildfires has spread to the U.S. — an absurd effort to blame Canadian officials for the spread of the smoke without acknowledging the role of the climate crisis in supercharging the fires.
In a statement, Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-Ohio) office says he blames Canada and Canadian government officials “for their failure to contain wildfires impacting air quality across Ohio and the Great Lakes region.”
Moreno has pledged to introduce a bill next week known as the Countering Atmospheric Nuisances Arising from Drifting Airborne Foreign Incendiary Residual Emissions Act, or CANADA FIRE Act, to impose sanctions.
The bill would require U.S. officials to make a determination on whether Canadian officials have failed to mitigate “transboundary smoke events originating substantially in Canada.”
If the government makes such a determination, the bill then requires U.S. officials to choose from a list of sanctions to impose, including measures as severe as cutting Canada off from any new trade or deals with the U.S. government and prohibiting all U.S. financial institutions from granting loans or credit to Canada except for provisions like “wildfire-management assistance.”
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