Trump curbs bird protections
Rollback of 1918 law poses a deadly threat from industry, wildlife experts warn.
The Trump administration moved forward Friday on gutting a long- standing federal protection for the nation’s birds, over objections from former federal officials and many scientists that billions more birds will probably perish as a result.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its take on the proposed rollback in the Federal Register. It’s a f inal step that means the change — greatly limiting federal authority to prosecute industries for practices that kill migratory birds — could be made official within 30 days.
The wildlife service acknowledged in its f indings that the rollback would have a “negative” effect on the many bird species covered by the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which includes hawks, eagles, seabirds, storks, songbirds and sparrows.
The move scales back federal prosecution authority for the deadly threats migratory birds face from industry — including electrocution on power lines, wind turbines that knock them from the air, and oil f ield waste pits where landing birds perish in toxic water.
Industry operations kill an estimated 450 million to 1.1 billion birds annually, out of roughly 7 billion birds in North America, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service and recent studies.
The Trump administration maintains that the act should apply only to birds killed or harmed intentionally, and is putting that “clarifying ” change into regulation. The change would “improve consistency and efficiency in enforcement,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said.
The administration has continued to push the migratory bird regulation even after a federal judge in New York in August rejected the its legal rationale.
Two days after news organizations announced
President Trump’s defeat by Democrat Joe Biden, federal officials advanced the bird treaty changes to the White House, one of the final steps before adoption.
Trump was “in a frenzy to f inalize his bird- killer policy,” David Yarnold, president of the National Audubon Society, said in a statement Friday.
Steve Holmer with the American Bird Conservancy said the change would accelerate bird population declines that have swept North America since the 1970s.
How the 1918 treaty gets enforced has sweeping ramif ications for the construction of commercial buildings, electric transmission systems and other infrastructure, said Rachel Jones, vice president of the National Assn. of Manufacturers.
Jones said the changes under Trump would be needed to make sure the bird law wasn’t used in an “abusive way.” That’s a longstanding complaint from industry lawyers despite federal officials’ contention that they bring criminal charges only rarely.