Trump wild bird policy revoked

BILLINGS, MONT. — The Biden administration on Monday reversed a policy imposed under former President Donald Trump that drastically weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law that protects most U.S. bird species.

Trump ended criminal prosecutions against companies responsible for bird deaths that could have been prevented.

The move halted enforcement practices under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in place for decades — resulting most notably in a $100 million settlement by energy company BP after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill killed about 100,000 birds.

A federal judge in New York in August struck down the Trump administration’s legal rationale for changing how the bird treaty was enforced.

But the administration did not abandon its policy, rejecting concerns that many more birds would die and remaining adamant that the law had been wielded inappropriately to penalize accidental bird deaths.

Interior spokesman Tyler

Cherry said the Trump policy “overturned decades of bipartisan and international consensus and allowed industry to kill birds with impunity.”

Cherry said in a statement that the agency plans to come up with new standards “that can protect migratory birds and provide certainty to industry.”

Former federal officials and environmental groups said many of the Trump rules were meant to benefit private industry at the expense of conservation.

More than 1,000 North American bird species are covered by the treaty.