On Friday, June 8th, the Trump administration released a draft plan to allow “indiscriminate killing of birds at industrial sites across the country, including oil and gas operations.” This new plan would change the interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to conclude that incidentally killing birds is not prohibited by the law. It also makes it more difficult to reverse the new changes so that it will be more difficult to punish oil and gas companies for killing birds.

For instance, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 was an unforgettable tragedy. It is estimated to have killed more than a million birds. BP oil had to pay more than “$100 million in fines to Support wetland and migratory bird Conservation because of those deaths.” Under the Trump administration’s new policy, the company wouldn’t have to pay at all for the damages caused.

Oil spills aren’t the only catastrophic events killing birds by these companies. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “bald eagles, snowy owls and other raptors” are electrocuted when they perch on uninsulated power lines. Landscapers also reportedly have thrown mourning doves into tree shredders. These acts go unpunished under the new policy.

Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity says: “This faux environmental review is a thinly veiled attempt to shield the Trump administration’s disastrous bird-killing policy from being overturned by a new administration. The administration’s radical change in policy has already allowed the killing of thousands of birds across the country. If it’s allowed to stand it will only magnify ongoing and severe bird declines that are pushing us toward a real silent spring.”

We cannot allow this to happen. The government should not be giving free passes to big corporations and allowing them to get away with killing birds en masse. Sign this petition to speak up and ask for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to be protected!

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