Accidental Bird Kills by Industry Legal Under Interior Plan (2)

The Interior Department plans to cement into regulation its 2017 opinion that the accidental killing of migratory birds isn’t a criminal act—a reversal of prior federal policy that prosecuted unintentional bird killings as a misdemeanor, Interior officials said Thursday.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is beginning a rulemaking that would punish only those who intentionally kill migratory birds, the service said Thursday.

Interior Solicitor Daniel Jorjani issued an opinion in 2017 that rejected the federal government’s century-long interpretation of the 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty Act as criminalizing companies that accidentally kill birds during industrial activities, such as wind turbines ...