Trump Administration Rolls Back Protections for Migratory Birds

The Trump administration late last week reinstated a dangerous opinion under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act from the president’s first term that allows extractive energy industries to harm or kill migratory birds in the name of seeking energy dominance. The opinion on incidental take exempts industries from being held accountable for the unintentional, but foreseeable, killing of birds during industrial activities.

“Rolling back these kinds of protections for migratory birds such as snowy owls, red-winged blackbirds, and white pelicans will undoubtedly result in the deaths of tens of thousands of birds,” said Daniel Moss, senior government relations representative at Defenders of Wildlife. “This action is particularly egregious as we approach the 15th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion which resulted in catastrophic mortality rates for sea birds. Only thanks to the MBTA, BP was forced to pay $100 million in fines.  Weakening this law by giving businesses a free pass to do harm is the exact opposite of what our government should be doing.”

In 2020, the Southern District of New York declared the first Trump administration’s attempt to strip the MBTA of incidental take protections illegal, upholding the long-standing previous interpretation of the law.

Scientists estimate three billion birds have been lost across North America since 1970.  

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