Category

Memorandum M-37050

03 January 2018

Incidental Take of Migratory Birds No Longer Prohibited by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

, and
Jan 03 2018
; ;
0
On Dec. 22, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) issued Memorandum M-370501, which concludes that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), 16 U.S.C. § 703, does not prohibit the incidental taking of migratory birds. DOI now reads the MBTA’s prohibitions on pursuing, hunting, taking, capturing, killing or attempting to do the same as applying only to affirmative actions that have as their purpose the taking or killing of migratory birds, their nests or their eggs. The opinion is significant because it reverses DOI’s prior interpretation of the MBTA as prohibiting incidental taking or killing of migratory birds. Because the MBTA is a strict liability criminal statute, meaning that a violation can occur regardless of whether the violator acted with intent, Memorandum M-37050 is also significant because it likely will reduce potential criminal exposure on project developers and operators.

(more…)

SHARE
EmailShare

Contact

Samuel B. Boxerman
Partner
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8547
sboxerman@sidley.com

Terence T. Healey
Partner
Washington, D.C.
+1 617 223 0306
thealey@sidley.com

Kenneth W. Irvin
Partner
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8256
kirvin@sidley.com

Emily P. Mallen
Partner
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8447
emallen@sidley.com

Christopher J. Polito
Partner
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8568
cpolito@sidley.com

Michael L. Lisak
Counsel
Chicago
+1 312 853 1086
mlisak@sidley.com

Brittany A. Bolen
Senior Policy Advisor
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8416
bbolen@sidley.com

Allen S. Braddock
Associate
Houston
+1 713 495 4533
abraddock@sidley.com

Aaron L. Flyer
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8127
aflyer@sidley.com

Brooklyn Hildebrandt
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8127
bhildebrandt@sidley.com

Allison H. In
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8184
ain@sidley.com

J. Simone Jones
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8224
jsimone.jones@sidley.com

Marshall R. Morales
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8920
mrmorales@sidley.com

Nicole E. Noëlliste
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8680
nnoelliste@sidley.com

Hannah Posen
Associate
Chicago
+1 312 853 0701
hposen@sidley.com

Jack Raffetto
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8342
jraffetto@sidley.com

Joseph T. Zaleski
Associate
Washington, D.C.
+1 202 736 8898
jzaleski@sidley.com