U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces proposal to revoke MBTA rule

[Laura Bies]

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Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to revoke the final rule published in January limiting the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). 

In the proposal, the USFWS indicates its intent to revoke the January rule and return to the previous, traditional interpretation of the MBTA as prohibiting incidental take. 

The final rule published in January was originally scheduled to go into effect on February 8. The new administration extended that date until March 8 and took additional public comment on the final rule. Today's proposal will now revoke that January rule and request additional public comments on issues of fact, law, and policy raised by the January rule. 

Comments will be accepted until June 7 and can be submitted at http://www.regulations.gov (search for Docket Number: FWS-HQ-MB-2018-0090). You can find all the documents associated with this rulemaking at https://www.fws.gov/regulations/mbta/.

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