In a stunning manifestation of the dangers of a warming world, large swaths of the eastern U.S. are suffering from extreme air pollution driven by hundreds of wildfires raging across Quebec. The smoke has spurred renewed calls for more aggressive efforts to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions warming the planet. And unlike with most climate-linked disasters, people in Washington are feeling this one firsthand. Paul Miller, who leads a Boston-based group of air pollution regulators, said air pollution could drive real action, if history is any guide. “People tend to act on things they can see,” he told Sean Reilly, referencing passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act. The bedrock environmental law received a groundswell of bipartisan support after smog and other pollution reached extreme levels in the 1960s. While the western U.S. is no stranger to catastrophic wildfires, this week’s episode marks one of the worst on record for the East Coast. An orange haze filled with toxic particles has engulfed New York City, whose air quality is now one of the worst in the world. Officials grounded flights Wednesday and today and continue to urge people to stay indoors. Dangerous air conditions have reached as far south as Alabama. On the Hill: Lawmakers certainly took notice as a thick layer of smoke penetrated Washington and the Capitol. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called the plague of smoke “a sobering reminder that we must manage our forests to make them more resilient to catastrophic fires.” But he stopped short of making the connection between fires and fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Republicans are still opposing multiple federal and state-led efforts to tackle climate change. This prompted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to deride Republican “climate denier[s]” in Congress. “You show up to work at the Capitol today, see the skies filled with smoke … and you still don’t get that we need bold and immediate action to save our planet? Ridiculous,” she tweeted. Climate split-screen: As the smoke was settling in Wednesday, Virginia regulators voted to exit a regionwide initiative aimed at cutting power plants’ planet-warming emissions. Leaving the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a major goal of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, despite a 2020 state law that mandated Virginia’s participation. Republicans in Washington are also trying to pass two bills that would stop the Biden administration from regulating gas-burning appliances, which studies show increase the risk of asthma and other respiratory conditions. Natural gas hookups in buildings also account for a sizable chunk of U.S. carbon pollution. Those bills are stalled, though, because of GOP infighting.
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