Trump Wouldn’t Fine BP for Bird Killings if Oil Spill Recurred

The Trump administration wouldn’t fine an oil company under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the mass killing of birds if another oil spill similar to the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred, Robert Wallace, an assistant Interior secretary, told a Senate committee.

The $100 million in fines the Obama administration levied against BP for the thousands of birds that died because of the Deepwater Horizon spill wouldn’t be possible under a new rule the Trump administration proposed Jan. 30 to re-interpret the MBTA, Wallace said at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing.

For about a century, accidental bird ...