The Trump Administration Has Thrown Out Protections for Migratory Birds

[Judi Lynn]

BY
Elizabeth Shogren, The Center for Investigative Reporting
PUBLISHED
April 14, 2019

Under Republican and Democratic presidents from Nixon through Obama, killing migratory birds, even inadvertently, was a crime, with fines for violations ranging from $250 to $100 million. The power to prosecute created a deterrent that protected birds and enabled government to hold companies to account for environmental disasters.

But in part due to President Donald Trump’s interior secretary nominee, David Bernhardt, whose confirmation awaits a Senate vote, the wildlife cop is no longer on the beat. Bernhardt pushed a December 2017 legal opinion that declared the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act applies only when companies kill birds on purpose.

Internal government emails obtained by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting provide evidence of federal wildlife agents opting out of investigations and enforcement, citing that policy change as the reason.

First enacted to implement a 1916 treaty with Canada, the 1918 law was written to protect migratory birds – as well as their nests, eggs and even feathers – from being captured, sold or killed “at any time, or in any manner.” Similar treaties were signed by the governments of Mexico, Japan and the Soviet Union, now Russia, and included in the law.

More:
https://truthout.org/articles/the-trump-administration-has-thrown-out-protections-for-migratory-birds/

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Does this let windmills off the hook?

[KPN]

2. Courts will be busy on this one hopefully.

Indirect results of an action taken on purpose can be determined to be “on purpose”. Industry, land owners and users will try to hide behind it was an accident, it was unintended (as in consequence), but that will be determined in the courts. Unfortunately, some — maybe many, maybe tens or hundreds of thousands of —birds will be impacted in the meantime.

[NickB79]

3. This covers ducks and geese, two birds hunters love to go after

And those hunters often swing conservative in their political beliefs.

How do all those NRA members feel, knowing that the President is endangering the wildlife they so love to hunt? Where's Ducks Unlimited to blast this decision?