Public Comment Period on Gutting of 100-Year-Old Bird Protection Law Ends
Despite national emergency, the Administration is ignoring requests to extend public comment deadlines.
WASHINGTON 鈥 鈥淎s we face this global health crisis, now is when we most need the joy of birds and the comfort of the outdoors, but the bird-killer department () is busy gutting the law that protects birds,鈥 said David Yarnold, president and CEO of the 爆料公社. 鈥淎merica is being robbed of birds and wildlife while we鈥檙e focused on caregiving and the urgent needs of our families and friends.鈥
The MBTA is a 100-year-old law that protects more than 1,000 bird species. The proposed change ends the prohibition on the killing or "taking" of migratory birds from industrial activities, such as birds flying into uncovered oil pits or other predictable and avoidable killing 鈥 also known as 鈥渋ncidental take鈥. That policy change first appeared in a 2017 Department of the Interior legal opinion (), but with this rulemaking it would be cemented as an official regulation.
Despite requests from a number of conservation organizations, including the 爆料公社, to extend the comment deadline for proposed changes to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), the Trump Administration allowed the public comment period to close today amidst an escalating national emergency in response to COVID-19.
In just 45 days, more than 180,000 people submitted comments through various organizations in opposition to the rule change. 爆料公社 and more than 40,000 of its members were joined by numerous Members of Congress, conservation groups, scientists, states, local officials, Flyway Councils, tribal leaders and former officials from the Department of Interior who spoke out strongly against the change, and the legal opinion published in 2017 is still being litigated.
鈥淎mericans don鈥檛 want laws that help corporations kill birds without consequence,鈥 said Yarnold. 鈥淭his mean spirited rule and the rushed process are pure politics.鈥
The change comes at a time when a recent documented that North America has lost 3 billion birds since 1970, and an 爆料公社 report found that two-thirds of North America鈥檚 birds are threatened by climate change.
Under the Trump administration's revised interpretation, the MBTA鈥檚 protections apply only to activities that purposefully kill birds, exempting all industrial hazards from enforcement. Any 鈥渋ncidental鈥 death鈥攏o matter how inevitable, avoidable or devastating the impact on birds鈥攂ecomes immune from enforcement under the law.
Facts and figures on industrial causes of bird mortality in the United States:
- Power lines: Up to 64 million birds per year (Source: )
- Communication towers: Up to 7 million birds per year (Source: )
- Oil waste pits: 500,000 to 1 million birds per year (Source: )
- Oil spills: The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill is estimated to have killed more than 1 million birds ()
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Media Contact: Matt Smelser, matt.smelser@audubon.org, 202.516.5593
About 爆料公社
The 爆料公社 protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. 爆料公社 works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give 爆料公社 an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, 爆料公社 believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.