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The Trump administration is moving forward with a regulatory change to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, decreasing the liability of companies that kill birds. For decades, the law has been used to hold companies accountable for killing birds in oil spills and other environmental disasters, most notably in the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The proposal released today would codify a highly controversial legal opinion issued by Interior Solicitor Daniel Jorjani, a former Koch advisor, which declared the law only applies when companies intentionally kill birds. Center for Western Priorities executive director Jennifer Rokala stated, "This radical interpretation of the law has already allowed oil companies to kill birds without repercussions. Now, the Trump administration wants to make sure extractive industries can continue to kill birds after they leave office."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said that it will rely on voluntary efforts by companies to protect birds. Last year's legal opinion is already being challenged by conservation groups and states, and further legal challenges are expected on yesterday's regulatory change.
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In his 1963 book The Quiet Crisis, my father, former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, sounded the alarm about the creeping destruction of nature. 'Each generation has its own rendezvous with the land, for despite our fee titles and claims of ownership, we are all brief tenants on this planet,' he wrote. 'By choice, or by default, we will carve out a land legacy for our heirs.' Today would have been Stewart Udall’s 100th birthday. And 57 years after he wrote the The Quiet Crisis, it is more urgent than ever that we heed his words — and follow his example — in order to save the natural world.”
