U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service weakens law protecting birds - Entrepreneur Generations

A pied-billed grebe that later died after landing
in a pond of fracking waste. (Photo by Aviary
Conservation Center of Appalachia)

For the past century, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act has made it illegal to hunt, catch, kill, possess, import or export any migratory bird, including its feathers, nests or eggs without the proper permit. But in late 2017 the Trump administration changed the law, announcing that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would no longer enforce "incidental take", Brittany Patterson reports for Ohio Valley ReSource. That means when birds are accidentally killed by things like power lines, wind turbines, or the oil or gas ponds full of toxic drilling fluids near oil and gas operations. FWS sometimes issued fines to industries for killing birds, but also worked with them to minimize risk to birds by installing netting over gas ponds, for example. About 90 percent of the cases tracked by the National Audubon Society have been related to the oil and gas industry.

Many industry groups applauded the move; Lowell Rothschild, an environmental lawyer with the law firm Bracewell, which has represented oil and gas industries for more than 20 years, told Petterson the law was too broad and is "difficult to comply with and it's also difficult to equitably administer." Environmental and conservation groups disagreed, saying that the ability to assess fines over incidental take has forced companies to make changes that could protect birds. On May 24 a coalition of environmental groups filed suit, challenging the change to the law. The plaintiffs include the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Audubon Society.

"Migratory birds are important ecological and economic drivers. Each year, birders spend an estimated $41 billion on trips and equipment. Birds are the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine,’ and also literal ones. As ecological indicator species they inform us when environmental conditions have changed," Patterson reports.

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