Burn it all down

A plan by the Trump administration to change the rules under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act could devastate the population of threatened and endangered species and accelerate their decline across North America, a former US wildlife official has warned.

Dan Ashe, a former US Fish and Wildlife Service Director, told the The Associated Press news agency news agency that for years the law's threat of prosecution served as "a brake on industry" and had probably saved billions of birds.

[...]

"It will be catastrophic."

[...]

Industry sources and pollutants kill an estimated 450 million to 1.1 billion birds annually, out of an overall 7.2 billion birds in North America, according to recent studies by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Under the 50-year practice in the migratory bird law, criminal penalties are being used to put pressure on companies into taking measures to prevent unintentional bird deaths.

The Trump administration dismissed Ashe's dire prediction, contending companies will continue to avoid bird deaths voluntarily.

  alJazeera

And that, we all know, is bullshit. Also, if companies are concerned enough to do that, what does it matter if the law is there? There's only one reason to remove it: because it's in their way.

The Trump administration's proposal follows longstanding pressure from oil companies, utilities and other industries.

[...]

The 1918 migratory bird law was passed after many US bird populations were destroyed by hunting and poaching, much of it for feathers for women's hats.

Over the past half-century, the law was also applied against companies that failed to prevent foreseeable bird deaths.

However, the Trump administration says deaths of birds that fly into oil pits, mining sites, telecommunications towers, wind turbines and other hazards should be treated as accidents not subject to prosecution. And an Interior Department proposal would cement that into federal regulation.

What happened to "these ugly windmills are killing thousands of beautiful birds!"?

State officials and wildlife advocates who are suing the administration in federal court say birds are already being harmed under actions allowed by a 2017 Trump administration legal memo that signalled the rule change.

Most notable was the destruction last northern autumn of nesting grounds for 25,000 shorebirds in Virginia to make way for a road and tunnel project. State officials had ended conservation measures for the birds after federal officials advised such measures were voluntary under the new interpretation of the law.

The move to relax the bird law, combined with Trump's relaxations of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act puts birds and their habitat at greater risk.

[...]

The American Petroleum Institute suggested in a regulatory filing: "The birds themselves are the actors, colliding or otherwise interacting with industrial structures."

Jesus Tapdancing Christ! (h/t Kevin Kruse). Perhaps the birds should be fined!

This administration will be the death of the planet.

UPDATE:

Greg Sheehan, head of Fish & Wildlife "stepping down"

"I have been away from my family for quite some time now, and while they have been patient and understanding, it is time that I rejoin them," he wrote.

  The Hill

The old need for spending more time with the family excuse.

He's been on the job for less than two years. Surely when he took the job his family expected him to be at it for at least four.

Since starting at FWS last June, Sheehan has largely been regarded as a driving force behind some of the service's more controversial decisions. A member of the Safari Club, Sheehan was a key figure in the Trump administration's push last fall to overturn an Obama-era ban on elephant trophy imports from a number of African nations.

[...]

He acknowledged that he will not be serving his full term, as he originally promised Interior Secretary Zinke.

In the letter he cited a number of achievements he accomplished while at the agency, including "opening more than 380,000 acres of our Refuge System to new hunting, fishing, and other recreational uses."

Sheehan additionally mentioned his close relationship with Zinke saying that [Zinke] was "constantly under the gun in the media."

Yeah, and who wants to make a bet that Sheehan has some corrupt dealings he's trying to avoid becoming public? Or maybe he's just another rat abandoning ship before it sinks.

This whole administration stinks of rot.

A member of the Safari Club, Sheehan was a key figure in the Trump administration's push last fall to overturn an Obama-era ban on elephant trophy imports from a number of African nations.

[...]

In July, he helped the agency rollout a number of new proposals that could ultimately weaken the Endangered Species Act's species protections.

On a call with stakeholders, Sheehan — the former head of Utah’s wildlife agency — said the changes would help the agency meet the legislation's main goal of “species recovery,” so that animals and plants could more easily be removed from endangered and threatened species lists.

Mission accomplished.

But wait. That's not all.

As acting administrator of FWS, Sheehan never went through the official confirmation process, an issue raised by a number of environmental groups.

[...]

"Sheehan’s departure is welcome news for America’s wildlife. In just one year in office, he inflicted incredible harm on imperiled animals by consistently putting special interests ahead of science and the environment," Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

"His actions derailed the recovery of countless endangered species, gutted protections for billions of migratory birds and wreaked havoc on our natural heritage,” Hartl said.

The best people.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: