AFrench2
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Biden Team Tosses Trump-Era Opinion That Gave Industry A Free Pass To Kill Birds
A 2017 legal interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act “allowed industry to kill birds with impunity," a Biden administration official said Monday.
www.yahoo.com
The Biden administration scrapped a controversial Trump-era legal opinion that gutted protections for hundreds of species of migratory birds.
In December 2017, Daniel Jorjani, then the top lawyer at the Department of the Interior and a former longtime adviser to the fossil fuel mogul Koch brothers, issued an interpretation of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) that effectively legalized all unintentional migratory bird deaths, including those caused by chemical spills, oil and gas operations, power lines and wind turbines.
Jorjani argued that the law was only meant to prohibit the intentional hunting, capturing or killing of bird species, and that as long as a company or individual does not mean to kill birds, they are protected from prosecution.
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Under the 100-year-old conservation law, it is illegal to pursue, hunt, capture, kill or possess migratory birds or their parts without proper permits. And since the 1970s, the federal government has occasionally prosecuted timber, fossil fuel and mining companies for unintentional but often avoidable bird deaths caused by industrial activity.
If you don't know the background, the Trump Administration was terrible for the environment and animal rights. He gutted the Endangered Species Act, torched the EPA, and also did the above to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act from the days of Roosevelt and conservationist bird lovers. Today marks a good day for animal rights and the rule of law against big business.
EDIT: Everything in italics is from the article, not me. "Gutted" is their word not mine.
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