Markey Demands Strategy Against Health, Eco, Financial Wildfire Impacts

Full Letter (PDF)

Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, has written a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum. He has urged both entities to swiftly respond to requests for immediate fire assistance in the face of the current U.S.-Canada cross-border wildfire emergency. The emergency has led to air quality alerts, public health risks and economic losses across the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Senator Markey has also suggested the development of a longer-term plan, in coordination with Canada, to manage the increasingly frequent and severe cross-border wildfire smoke events.

In his letter, Markey criticized the lack of planning and the insufficient coordination from the administration, saying, “Despite this ongoing emergency and a growing pattern of large-scale U.S.-Canada wildfire smoke events in recent years, there has been little public coordinated activity from the administration to combat this crisis and no indication that the federal government is working to improve its ability to address future cross-border wildfire smoke incidents.”

Markey stressed that the administration’s central message so far has been President Trump’s announcement that he will add the cost of wildfire pollution to the tariffs that he wishes to assess on Canada. He emphasized the importance of a unified response to this crisis and stated, “Like the climate crisis, the wildfire crisis is a shared crisis. It does not respect national boundaries, and our response cannot stop at our border. We must have a federal government that responds to crises effectively and quickly, invests in institutions that can match the evolving scale of climate change and its impacts, and work together with our neighbors – not against them – to ensure our mutual health and wellbeing.”

In the letter, Senator Markey urged the administration to respond swiftly to any requests for assistance made by the Government of Canada or its Provincial/Territorial Governments via the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC). He also proposed the inclusion of PM2.5, the major air pollutant caused by wildfires, in the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement, a vital tool in managing transboundary air pollution.

Wildfires, escalated by climate change, are growing larger and more severe. Senator Markey has consistently advocated for climate mitigation and adaptation. He introduced the Green New Deal and wrote the Preventing HEAT Illness and Deaths Act. Additionally, he has fought to strengthen federal air quality laws and secure additional funding for air quality monitoring. His Environmental Justice Air Quality Monitoring Act received $3 million for hyper-local air pollution monitors through the Inflation Reduction Act.