Press Room

Congresswoman Liz Cheney Introduces Bird-Killer Amendment

House Committee on Natural Resources approves language targeting Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
By ÃÛèÖAPP
Published November 08, 2017

WASHINGTON â€” In reaction to a bird-killer introduced today by Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) and passed by the House Committee on Natural Resources, ÃÛèÖAPP President and CEO David Yarnold () said, “Rep. Cheney is giving oil and gas companies and other industries a free pass to kill birds with impunity. This amendment guts the most effective bird conservation law that has been on the books for a century, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Under Cheney’s amendment, companies would have no responsibility for bird deaths. We will to stop this and any other attack on the laws that save birds.â€

Cheney introduced the measure as an amendment to , a bill written to weaken environmental protections in order to facilitate oil and gas drilling. The amendment was approved in the committee mark-up, and the bill passed out of committee earlier today. 

The MBTA is one of ÃÛèÖAPP’s earliest victories. Congress passed the MBTA in 1918 in response to public outcry over the mass slaughter of birds, which threatened egrets and other species with extirpation. The law prohibits killing or harming America’s birds except under certain conditions, including managed hunting seasons for game species. The law protects more than 1,000 bird species in part because industries implement commonsense best management practices like covering tar pits and marking transmission lines.

Facts and figures on industrial  in the United States:

  • Power lines: Up to 175 million birds per year (Source: )
  • Communication towers: Up to 50 million birds per year (Source: )
  • Oil waste pits: 500,000 to 1 million birds per year (Source: )
  • Gas flares: No reliable mortality estimates, but an infamous 2013 incident in Canada incinerated an estimated 7,500 birds (Source: ) 

ÃÛèÖAPP to vote against any legislation that includes language weakening the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The ÃÛèÖAPP protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. ÃÛèÖAPP's state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, ÃÛèÖAPP's vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. ÃÛèÖAPP is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more how to help at and follow us on  and  at @audubonsociety.

Contact: Nicolas Gonzalez, ngonzalez@audubon.org, (212) 979-3100.