A New Trump Administration Rule Exempting Incidental Take Under the MBTA Is Unlikely to Last Long.
A long-standing regulatory tug-of-war over whether the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) prohibits incidental “take” of migratory birds is about to enter a new, but likely short-lived, phase. On 7 January 2021, the Trump administration will publish a new regulation affirming that the MBTA does not prohibit incidental take of migratory birds, a view directly at odds with the Obama administration’s enforcement of the MBTA against incidental take caused by industry, wind energy and oil and gas in particular. But there is a high likelihood the rule will never take effect if the Democrats [...]