http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060019062
The Obama administration is considering a new program to permit and mitigate accidental bird kills from drilling pits, gas flares, power lines and communications towers, a move aimed at reducing major sources of avian mortality that was cheered by bird advocates. The Fish and Wildlife Service today released a notice of intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement that could establish a permitting regime under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act requiring that such incidental take be mitigated and potentially offset by habitat restoration or protection.
The service plans to take 60 days of public comments and will hold open houses in Sacramento, Calif.; Denver; St. Louis; and Arlington, Va., in the coming months. It has also scheduled a July 8 webinar to discuss the proposal. At issue is how the agency enforces the 1918 migratory bird law, which prohibits the harming of any of 1,027 covered bird species, even, according to some interpretations, if the harm is accidental. FWS already permits hunting of migratory birds as long as harvest levels allow bird populations to sustain themselves. It also permits the killing of certain migratory species that prey on other wildlife, including blackbirds, cowbirds, grackles, crows and magpies.
But there is currently no mechanism for industry sectors to obtain the right to unintentionally kill migratory birds, which happens frequently when birds collide with or are electrocuted by power lines, for example, or when birds try to land in oil and gas disposal pits. FWS said it wants to create legal assurances for companies that face liabilities under the migratory bird law, while offering a means for impacts to be mitigated. The proposal is still in a very early stage, so it is unclear whether it will extend to the wind sector or cover building collisions, two other major sources of bird mortality.