Bernhardt Defends Bird Treaty Rule Amid Verbal Combat in Senate

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, visibly shaking and combative during a Senate hearing Wednesday, defended the Interior Department’s plan to re-interpret the Migratory Bird Treaty Act so that oil companies would not be fined for killing birds due to oil spills.

Sparring with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bernhardt said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing that Interior will proceed with the reinterpretation regardless of objections from Congress. The proposed rule codifies a 2017 Interior solicitor’s opinion that said only intentional killings can be prosecuted under the MBTA.

Van Hollen said the reinterpretation of the MBTA would have made it ...