And apparently he did their bidding,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. Since the penalty for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is currently only a class B misdemeanor, this legislation would finally provide a meaningful deterrent of prison time and hefty fines. You also cannot sell our material separately or syndicate it. “As this spill involves the incidental take of birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, there is currently no enforcement action planned,” according to an email from a Fish and Wildlife agent. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 14-6 on April 4 in support of Bernhardt’s nomination, and the full Senate is expected to confirm him as secretary. The Humane Society of the United States applauds the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources for voting unanimously on Wednesday to strengthen penalties for killing birds protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Elizabeth Shogren can be reached at eshogren@revealnews.org. Privacy Policy and Bernhardt, a former industry lawyer, played an important role in directing the new interpretation, as previously reported by Reveal. Join the fight to protect us. This legislation will crack down on people who intentionally kill peregrine falcons, Cooper's hawks, red-tailed hawks and other federally protected birds. Get their investigations emailed to you directly by signing up at revealnews.org/newsletter. Follow her on Twitter: @ShogrenE. Agents had a similar reaction when a tugboat spilled oil into Great Harbor in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, killing dozens of birds. The council is one of several environmental groups and eights states suing to restore full bird protections. An email from the department’s top lawyer, Daniel Jorjani, said Bernhardt’s office had been involved “since Day 1.”. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast. Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, take alone is a misdemeanor violation with maximum penalty of six months in prison and $15,000 fine, and commercialization is a felony violation with a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and $250,000 fine ($500,000 for an organization). The HSUS's tax identification number is 53-0225390. Prosecutions for accidentally killing migratory birds are rare, but there have been several noteworthy cases. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act Penalty and Enforcement Act of 2009 (H.R. BP agreed to pay $100 million for criminal violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization—backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. The Trump administration took a step on Friday toward rolling back protections for migratory birds and reducing penalties for companies that inadvertently kill them, the latest effort to finalize regulatory rollbacks before President Donald Trump leaves office in January. There’s a lot at stake for energy companies, too, which is why they’ve worked so hard to weaken this act. “I think a good argument could be made that the current Interior policy does not comply with the treaty with Canada,” said Paul Schmidt, a 33-year veteran of the Fish and Wildlife Service who was promoted to assistant director under President George W. Bush. If you want to run a photo apart from that story, please request specific permission to license by contacting our web team, webteam@revealnews.org. Many birds were saved. You can’t republish all of our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. Scientists caution that weakening the Migratory Bird Treaty Act imperils many types of birds that are endangered or declining in numbers, and it also eliminates an important source of wetlands restoration funding: penalties paid by violators. "Like the horrific practice of dogfighting and the subsequent congressional response, it is time that Congress act to give the federal government expanded authority to prosecute and punish the most egregious and horrific violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects raptors and birds of prey like the peregrine falcon," said Rep. DeFazio. At least one of Bernhardt’s former clients, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, pushed for the change. As a rookie agent for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska 30 years ago, Gary Mowad traveled across Prince William Sound for weeks on end, plucking dead birds from “big globs of oil” spilled from the Exxon Valdez tanker. That avenue is no longer available” due to the 2017 legal interpretation, known as an M-Opinion. “In practice, the new M-Opinion means that if an oil or hazardous chemical release occurs and is not done with the intent of taking migratory birds, the MBTA does not apply,” according to the letter from Margaret Everson, the agency’s principal deputy director. They don’t answer calls’: Inside ICE’s coronavirus testing disaster, New York bill to ban toxic solvent TCE awaits governor’s signature, EPA science panel plows ahead with toxic chemical’s review, despite coronavirus crisis. That seemed to contradict instructions issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting April 8, 2019. The Trump White House rewrote their assessment. Doing away with the fines “actually could be putting other communities at risk from storm surges and other negative environmental impacts,” she added. In recent years there have been horrifying examples of malicious cruelty to protected birds, such as "roller pigeon clubs" killing birds of prey through shooting, poisoning and even baiting raptors with pigeons rigged with fishing hooks, and cockfighters using baited, steel-jawed leghold traps to prevent raptors from preying on game fowl. Under Republican and Democratic presidents from Nixon through Obama, killing migratory birds, even inadvertently, was a crime, with fines for violations ranging from $250 to $100 million. (In this case, however, Michigan’s state agency stepped in, and saved the great blue heron nests and chicks.). 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