10 http://www.earthislandjournal.org(^1) Black Skimmers
Even before the administration proposed the
official rule change, Interior policy was being
informed by the 2017 opinion, to the great
detriment of birds, a New York Times inves-
tigation points out. In one telling example,
the state of Virginia had been planning to
mitigate the effects of a major bridge and
tunnel expansion project in the tidal waters
of the Chesapeake Bay. The nesting grounds
for some 25,000 migratory sea birds, includ-
ing black skimmers, gulls, and royal tern were
to be plowed over for the project. But the
state was considering building an artificial
island that would mitigate the loss. In 2018,
the Department of the Interior stepped in,
informing the state that such mitigation
was no longer required under department
policy. The state subsequently abandoned the
artificial island project.
(^2) Whooping Crane
Scientists estimate that anywhere between
12 and 64 million birds are killed every
year due to collision with or electrocution
from power lines. Whooping cranes, and
particularly juvenile cranes, are especially
vulnerable — power lines are the greatest
source of mortality for the young birds. Today,
there is only one self-sustaining population
of whooping cranes in the world — the
roughly 500 birds that migrate from Northern
Canada to Texas each winter. The best way
to prevent such deaths is to build new power
lines underground. Where that’s not practical,
outfitting lines with devices that make them
more visible can help, which is what utili-
ties have done in certain important stopover
grounds in Kansas. Utilities will no longer be
incentivized to take such measures under the
MBTA, though in the case of the federally
listed whooping crane, at least, Endangered
Species Act protections will still apply.
(^3) Mallards
Uncovered oil pits and ponds, as well as oil
spills, often attract and trap insects, which in
turn, attract birds and other animals that can
become stuck in the oil and die of exposure
or starvation. An estimated 500,000 to one
million birds die in this manner each year in
the US. Oil companies have been subjected
to significant fines for such deaths under the
MBTA. For example, in 2009, ExxonMobil pled
guilty to “taking” 85 birds — including mal-
lards, ibis, owls, and more — in uncovered
pools in five states. The company was fined
$600,000, and was required to take measures
to prevent future deaths, such as covering the
ponds with netting.
(^4) Golden Eagles
An estimated 140,00 to 328,000 birds are
killed by wind turbines every year. Eagles
appear to be particularly susceptible — a
talking points
AROUND THE WORLD
Flight Risk
As David Yarnold, president and CEO of
Audubon, put it on Twitter: “The Trump
Administration’s Bird Killer Department,
formerly known as the Department of the
Interior, just gets crueler and more craven
every day. And today they are doubling down
despite the fact that America did not elect
this administration to kill birds.”
The proposed policy would cement a legal
opinion issued by the Department of the
Interior in 2017 that said the act — which
allows for fines of up to $15,000 per bird death
— only applied to intentional killings. Under
the new rule, businesses would no longer be
held responsible for unintentional deaths,
such as when birds get stuck in uncovered
oil pits, struck by wind turbines, or bulldozed
by construction crews. Environmental groups,
some of which have already sued over the
policy change, says businesses will be less
incentivized to take even simple precaution-
ary measures like installing red lights on
communication towers or removing bird nests
before building atop important habitat.
Here are just a handful of the hundreds of
migratory bird species likely to be impacted
by the change.
SOURCES: AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY, AUDUBON, CNN, HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, THE NEW YORK TIMES, US FISH AND
WILDLIFE SERVICE.
In January, amid a spurt of
environmental rollbacks, the Trump
administration handed industry
yet another win when it proposed
a new regulation pertaining to the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).
Under the new rule, companies
would not be fined for “incidental
takes” — or accidental killings, in
non-legalese — of migratory birds.
Daily Environmental Updates:
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