Interior Drops Trump-Era Appeal of Migratory Bird Ruling (1)

The Interior Department dropped its challenge to a federal district court ruling tossing out a Trump administration legal opinion that would let scores of birds die due to oil and gas development and other industrial activity.

Interior late Thursday withdrew its appeal of a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruling in August that threw out former Interior Solicitor Daniel Jorjani’s 2017 opinion that only intentional bird killings—not accidental killings—are punishable under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The department filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in October ...