On January 11, AWI wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting that his department halt its plan to eliminate certain protections for migratory birds. This plan, released in late December, would reverse an Obama administration policy that made it clear that even unintended killing of migratory birds was prohibited under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The Trump administration’s drastic reinterpretation of the century-old MBTA is an overt attempt to shield the energy industry from having to take reasonable precautions to avoid killing birds. Millions of birds die each year from electrocutions, chemicals, collisions with structures, and other anthropogenic causes. The US Forest Service estimates that power lines alone kill up to 175 million birds annually.