Biden administration makes it harder to kill birds

[Posted by Chuck Almdale, submitted by Lucien Plauzoles]

FromBethLevin Vanity Fair quoting the WAPO

In break with Donald Trump, Biden administration will make it harder to kill birds

If you weren’t aware, Trump had made it easier to kill defenseless animals. Per The Washington Post 29 Sep 2021:

The Biden administration finalized a rule Wednesday revoking a Trump administration policy that eased penalties for killing birds, restoring federal protections that had been in place for a century. The Trump administration’s reinterpretation of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act ranked as one of its most contentious wildlife policies. It relaxed legal penalties for energy companies, construction firms, and land developers that unintentionally killed birds through activities such as construction and oil drilling.

The new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule would restore protections under the bedrock environmental law, which prohibits the “take” of migratory bird species�regulatory-speak for hunting, killing, capturing, selling, or otherwise hurting them.Under President Donald Trump, officials had sought to exclude accidental deaths from the “take” definition,a move backed bythe oil and gas industry.

Naturally, companies in the business of killing birds were upset about the reversal. Mallori Miller, vice president of government relations at the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said the group was “disappointed” in the White House’s decision. “Repealing this provision will not have the desired outcome of additional conservation but will, in fact, financially harm businesses who have an incidental take through no fault of their own,” Miller said in an email to the Post. “This is not a case of punishing ‘bad actors’ but rather a situation where companies are set up for failure.”