US to resume enforcement of unlawful bird deaths by industry

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration said Wednesday it will draft rules to govern the killing of wild birds by industry and resume enforcement actions against companies responsible for deaths that could have been prevented, a longstanding practice that ended under President Donald Trump.

The move came as North American bird numbers have plummeted drastically in recent decades. That decline was punctuated by news Wednesday that the famed ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 other species have gone extinct.

Conservation groups, which have urged President Joe Biden to take stronger action to protect wildlife, said the planned rules were urgently needed to hold companies accountable for bird deaths.

But the administration's announcement got immediate pushback from the oil industry, which has been subject to some of the most high-profile prosecutions under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Most notable was a $100 million settlement by energy company BP, after government investigators concluded the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill killed about 100,000 birds.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America said resuming prosecutions would harm businesses that killed birds “through no fault of their own.”

“This is not a case of punishing bad actors, but rather a situation where companies are set up for failure," said Mallori Miller, the oil industry group's vice president for public relations.

Federal officials pledged to be judicious in enforcing violations of the century-old bird law.

Enforcement will be reserved for cases where companies could have foreseen bird deaths but did not take steps to avoid them, said Jerome Ford, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assistant director for migratory birds.

In crafting the new rule, Ford said officials would look at a wide range of...