Each week the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) sends out an e-mail alert called Take Action Thursday, which tells subscribers about current actions they can take to help animals. NAVS is a national, not-for-profit educational organization incorporated in the State of Illinois. NAVS promotes greater compassion, respect, and justice for animals through educational programs based on respected ethical and scientific theory and supported by extensive documentation of the cruelty and waste of vivisection. You can register to receive these action alerts and more at the NAVS Web site.
This week’s Take Action Thursday examines challenges to protecting avian wildlife through all three branches of government: legislation, regulation and litigation. And on this Fourth of July weekend, the protection of the American bald eagle deserves particular scrutiny.
The Federal Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2013, HR 2078, was introduced last year. It would mandate that the Administrator of General Services incorporate bird-safe materials and design features into existing and new federal public buildings, and would address the impact of interior and exterior lighting on native bird species. As with so many federal bills for the protection of animals, this legislation has remained in committee without consideration since it was introduced.
In a recent comprehensive study, scientists estimated that as many as 988 million birds may be killed in the United States each year due to collisions with buildings. According to this study, building collisions are the second largest source of human-caused mortality for U.S. birds.
While many private companies have already begun to incorporate bird-safe building materials and designs, the federal government needs to lead the way in implementing these features that are already available to reduce bird deaths.
In the U.S. Senate, the Oregon and California Land Grant Act of 2013, S 1784, would increase the amount of logging allowed in federal forests in western Oregon. Part of this land is protected habitat essential to the Northern Spotted Owl and Marbled Murrelet, species which are both protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. While the bill includes language that takes this habitat into consideration, the protections are not absolute. Once logging occurs, the destruction of the birds’ habitat is irreversible.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is planning to revise a rule governing how permits are issued for the non-purposeful taking (harming or killing) of bald and golden eagles under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act). While the Eagle Act makes it a crime to “take” these birds, exemptions are allowed in the context of commercial use of the land where unavoidable bird deaths occur. These exemption permits are generally granted for construction projects or for long-term land use, such as the establishment of wind farms.
The FWS is now soliciting comments to determine what criteria should be used in issuing long-term (30-year) permits that would allow businesses to kill eagles without penalty (see Legal Trends, below, about a legal challenge to this regulation). In simpler terms, the FWS is going to decide how many “takings” are reasonable to protect the species and individual birds while allowing the development and use of land.
Your voice is needed to tell the FWS that the objective of the Eagle Act is to protect eagles and eagle populations. While it is necessary to give consideration to wind farms and other commercial enterprises, the primary consideration should be the development of better strategies for preventing bird deaths rather than giving permission for large numbers of eagles to be killed. Issuing long-term permits with liberal exemptions allowing the taking of eagles does not encourage the development or implementation of preventive strategies by businesses once they are granted a permit.
Please submit written comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by Sept. 22, 2014, through the federal e-Rulemaking Portal or by mailing your comments to: Public Comments Processing, Attention: Eagle Management and Permitting FWS-R2-MB-2011-0094; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM, Arlington, VA 22203.
A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Department of the Interior (DOI) charging it with multiple violations of federal law in connection with its December 9, 2013, final regulation that allows wind energy companies and others to obtain 30-year permits to kill eagles without prosecution by the federal government. The implementation of this regulation is already moving forward (see Federal Regulation, above). The American Bird Conservancy sent notice to the DOI and its U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in April that it intended to sue the agency, citing violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and other statutes in connection with the new eagle kill rule.
In 2009, the FWS stated that a permit of any duration longer than five years “would be incompatible with the preservation of the bald or golden eagle.” In 2013, the DOI changed this rule to 30 years without offering a strong scientific justification for the change in policy. This lawsuit seeks to stop implementation of this rule until a full environmental assessment is done to demonstrate that the 30-year permit term will not endanger eagles under the Acts. The American Bird Conservancy argues that wind energy and other renewable energy sources can be encouraged without putting bald and golden eagles at risk. In its lawsuit it contends that issuing 30-year permits to take eagles is contrary to developing a reasonable policy of coexistence.
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