H.R. 9783: Countering Atmospheric Nuisances Arising from Drifting Airborne Foreign Incendiary Residual Emissions Act

This bill would create a sanctions regime aimed at the Government of Canada if the President determines that wildfire smoke from Canada has repeatedly crossed into the United States and that Canada has not taken reasonable steps to prevent, control, or respond to those events.

What triggers the bill

Within 30 days of enactment, the President would have to decide whether, in the previous 12 months:

• one or more “material transboundary smoke events” occurred from Canada, and
• Canada failed to take reasonable and effective measures to prevent, mitigate, contain, or respond to the conditions causing those events.

If the President does not make that determination on time, the bill treats the determination as having been made in the affirmative automatically.

What counts as a covered smoke event

The bill defines a covered event broadly. It includes Canadian wildfire smoke that reaches the United States in a way that:

• pushes air pollution above federal air-quality standards,
• creates an “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” air-quality rating or worse,
• triggers a public health advisory, or
• causes significant harm to health, transportation, commerce, agriculture, recreation, or the environment.

Sanctions on Canadian officials and others

If the President makes the required determination, the bill directs the government to identify foreign persons tied to the problem, including Canadian officials who:

• hold or held senior government roles related to forestry, land management, wildfire suppression, emergency management, environmental protection, air monitoring, natural resources, or cooperation with the United States;
• ordered, supported, concealed, or helped policies or practices that worsened smoke events;
• obstructed efforts to suppress relevant wildfires; or
• handled or benefited from such conduct, including certain immediate family members.

For those people, the bill would:

• freeze property and property interests within U.S. jurisdiction or under control of U.S. persons;
• ban U.S. persons from doing business with them, except for allowed exceptions; and
• bar them from entering the United States, revoke existing visas, and make them inadmissible.

Sanctions on the Government of Canada

The bill also requires or allows several sanctions aimed at the Canadian government itself. These include:

• no new U.S. government procurement contracts with the Government of Canada or entities it controls;
• no Export-Import Bank support for exports to the Canadian government or its controlled entities;
• U.S. opposition at international financial institutions to loans, grants, or policies benefiting Canada, except for basic human needs or wildfire-related assistance;
• possible restrictions on U.S. bank lending to the Canadian government;
• possible restrictions on buying new Canadian sovereign debt or equity issued by Canadian state-controlled entities;
• possible import restrictions on goods produced by Canadian government-controlled entities;
• possible limits on new U.S. investment in Canadian government-controlled entities; and
• blocking of property of Canadian state-owned enterprises that materially support the named conduct.

These sanctions could apply even if there were prior contracts or permits, though the President could allow a wind-down period of up to 60 days.

Visa and diplomatic measures

The bill would also make certain Canadian officials ineligible for U.S. visas and entry. It would require revocation of existing visas for those identified under the sanctions list, with limited waivers for international obligations, law enforcement needs, or national security.

It further expresses Congress’s view that the Secretary of State should consider declaring a list of Canadian diplomatic personnel persona non grata until the President certifies that air quality in affected U.S. communities has stayed below AQI 100 for 90 straight days because the smoke has stopped. This section does not force the President to accept or keep any particular diplomat.

Exceptions and waivers

The bill includes exceptions for humanitarian and diplomatic activity. It says sanctions should not interfere with:

• food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods;
• wildfire prevention, containment, suppression, mitigation, and forest restoration;
• air-quality monitoring, emergency preparedness, disaster response, and public health protection;
• necessary telecommunications for humanitarian or emergency purposes; or
• official U.S. government business and certain international obligations.

The President could also waive sanctions if doing so is vital to national security, necessary for a humanitarian emergency, helps Canada cooperate on wildfire smoke, or is needed to protect U.S. public health or safety.

How the sanctions can end

The President could terminate sanctions if, for at least 90 days:

• no covered smoke event has occurred, and
• Canada has adopted and begun carrying out a credible, adequately funded plan to prevent and respond to wildfires that may affect the United States, including notification procedures, data sharing, and cooperation with U.S. authorities.

If a new qualifying smoke event happens later and Canada again fails to respond reasonably, the sanctions must be reimposed.

Relevant Companies

None found