WASHINGTON, DC  – As smoke and fine particles from Canadian wildfires casts a cloud over Rhode Island and blankets other parts of the East Coast and Midwest, U.S. Senator Jack Reed says it is time to accelerate actions to mitigate the impacts of cross-border pollution and climate change.

Noting that air pollution and climate change are interconnected challenges, Senator Reed is urging Congress to accelerate efforts to combat climate change, prevent pollution, and strengthen air quality standards.  Reed also says the Biden Administration should boost firefighting personnel and equipment to help with the fires in Canada that are putting more than 100 million people in the U.S. under Air Quality Index alerts, according to a White House fact sheet.

“We’ve got to keep people safe from this degraded air quality and we’ve got to take action to prevent climate change from making this a common occurrence.  Unfortunately, we are seeing an uptick in wildfires here in Rhode Island and elsewhere.  Climate change is causing drier, hotter conditions leading to more intense fires and longer wildfire seasons.  So it is imperative that Congress provide resources to protect people and do more to help mitigate the impacts of climate change,” said Reed. 

According to Canadian authorities, there were 137 active wildfires in the province of Quebec as of Thursday morning.  Canadian officials also announced that, to date, there have been 443 fires in Quebec, which is more than double the 10-year average for this time of year.

To help Canada contain these blazes and put the wildfires out, the Biden Administration is directing 600 U.S. firefighters and support personnel from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior to deploy to Canada to assist with firefighting efforts.  Today, Senator Reed joined U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate Majority Leader, in calling for the Biden Administration to increase that commitment by sending double the number of Forest Service personnel to help fight the wildfires.

Reed also noted that over the past two years, the U.S. Senate passed billions in federal funding to mitigate and respond to wildfires.

Additionally, the historic Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed on August 16, 2022, contains over $369 billion in energy security and climate change resilience investments -- the single biggest investment in climate action in U.S. history.  This new law will help the United States reach its emission reduction commitments, increase U.S. competitiveness, lower energy bills, and spur a ‘race to the top’ in clean energy that will help strengthen the U.S. economy and national security and make America more energy independent.

To help Rhode Islanders take advantage of opportunities to save both money and energy, Senator Reed has begun hosting a series of roundtables and workshops with groups across the state to help Rhode Islanders access thousands of dollars in savings on new energy efficient upgrades and clean energy installations.

Next Wednesday, Reed is holding a special Clean Energy Incentives Workshop for local mayors and town officials from across the state to help them access clean energy tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act.  Representatives from the National League of Cities; the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources; the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns; and Rewiring America will be on hand to help answer questions. 

Reed says that it is important for the U.S. to exercise climate leadership.  He commended the Biden Administration for ambitiously setting the goal of reducing U.S. emissions 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.  Additionally, the U.S. has pledged to increase international climate finance, reduce methane emissions and deforestation, and help high-emitting countries transition away from coal and other fossil fuels to cleaner, renewable energy sources.

Earlier this week, Senator Reed announced $178,000 in federal funds to assist the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) with PM2.5 air quality monitoring efforts across the state.  The federal assistance is designed to help DEM operate and maintain its air quality monitoring network and to measure the levels of very fine particulate matter.  This work involves air quality sampling and generation of representative air quality data.