1/ Earlier this year we investigated the Trump administration’s changes in how it enforces the Migratory Bird Treaty Act -- a 100-year-old law that has saved millions of birds per year.
We have two updates.
We have two updates.
2 / First: Our reporter, @ShogrenE, recently flew over Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin with two retired US Fish & Wildlife Service agents. On their short flight, they saw dozens of oil pits.
revealnews.org/article/these-…
revealnews.org/article/these-…
@ShogrenE 3 / Migratory birds fly down to these pits expecting food, water and a safe place to rest. Instead, they get trapped in the oil. Often, they die.
Gary Mowad, one of the agents in the plane, says he often had had to break birds’ necks to end their suffering.
Gary Mowad, one of the agents in the plane, says he often had had to break birds’ necks to end their suffering.
@ShogrenE 4 / Since the 1970s, federal officials used this act to prosecute and fine companies that accidentally killed birds with oil pits and other industrial hazards.
But under the Trump Administration, they no longer can.
But under the Trump Administration, they no longer can.
@ShogrenE 5/ The Interior Department issued a new legal opinion that ended prosecutions of companies that unintentionally kill birds, even if the hazards of their activities are known.
@ShogrenE 6. Now that companies no longer face prosecutions and fines, the retired agents worry that industrial hazards will multiply, including pits like the ones our reporter saw in Wyoming.
@ShogrenE 7 / Which is why environmental groups are suing the Interior Department - the focus of our second update.
revealnews.org/article/100-ye…
revealnews.org/article/100-ye…
@ShogrenE 8 / The Interior Department’s new legal opinion declares that the act applies only to hunting, poaching or other activities that intentionally kill birds.
@ShogrenE 9/ Environmental groups are pushing back, arguing that Congress intended the act to prohibit all killing of birds or destroying nests.
