Markey Calls for Comprehensive Plan to Combat Health, Environmental, Economic Effects of Wildfires

Letter Text (PDF)

Boston (July 18, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum, urging the agencies to respond to any requests for immediate fire assistance and develop a longer-term plan, in coordination with Canada, to manage the increasingly frequent and severe cross-border wildfire smoke events. Senator Markey expressed concerns about the lack of planning amidst the ongoing U.S.-Canada cross-border emergency that has prompted air quality alerts, public health harm, and economic losses across the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

Senator Markey wrote, "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. In fact, the central federal 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."

Senator Markey continued, "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 his letter, Senator Markey asked that the administration respond to any requests for assistance that have been made by the Government of Canada or its Provincial/Territorial Governments through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC). He also asked the administration to add PM2.5, the major air pollutant caused by wildfires, to the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement, which has served as an effective cooperative instrument in managing transboundary air pollution.

Wildfires are becoming larger and more severe as a result of climate change. Senator Markey has been a champion for climate mitigation and adaptation, as the initial sponsor of the Green New Deal and the author of the Preventing HEAT Illness and Deaths Act. He has also fought to strengthen federal air quality laws and secure additional funding for air quality monitoring, with his Environmental Justice Air Quality Monitoring Act receiving $3 million in funding for hyper-local air pollution monitors through the Inflation Reduction Act.

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