The Fish and Wildlife Service put to rest Friday stalled efforts to craft a permit system for managing unintentional migratory bird deaths.
Citing Trump administration orders for “Unleashing American Energy,” the federal agency announced it was withdrawing an October 2021 advance notice of plans for permits that would authorize the “incidental take” of migratory birds. The procedural move buries more than three years’ worth of work, along with the 56,963 public comments received in response to the invitation by the Biden administration for permit ideas and opinions.
The unceremonious — but not unexpected — ending for the once-ambitious permit plan follows an earlier reversal of a key legal opinion by the Interior Department solicitor’s office. On Monday, acting Solicitor Gregory Zerzan reimposed an interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that limits the law’s reach only to intentional acts.
Zerzan’s opinion means, for instance, that utilities and energy companies won’t be held liable for birds unintentionally killed by transmission lines, wind turbines or the like. The Biden administration had interpreted the 1918 law more broadly to cover both unintentional and intentional acts. That administration simultaneously launched the effort to develop a permit system that environmentalists and industry representatives could live with but never finalized a proposal.
