Permits for Incidental Take of Eagles and Eagle Nests rule (2024)

| What is a significant rule? Significant regulatory action is a term used to describe an agency rule that has had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. These actions may also conflict with other rules or presidential priorities. As part of its role in the regulatory review process, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) determines which rules meet this definition. |
| Administrative State |
|---|
| Five Pillars of the Administrative State |
| •Agency control • Executive control • Judicial control •Legislative control • Public Control |
| Click here for more coverage of the administrative state on Ballotpedia.
|
| Click here to access Ballotpedia's administrative state legislation tracker. |
The Permits for Incidental Take of Eagles and Eagle Nests is a significant rule issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), effective April 12, 2024, that revises the regulations for the issuance of permits for eagle incidental take and eagle nest take.[1]
Timeline
The following timeline details key rulemaking activity:
- April 12, 2024: The final rule became effective.[1]
- February 12, 2024: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) published the final rule.[1]
- December 29, 2022: The comment period ended.[1]
- September 30, 2022: The FWS published the proposed rule and opened the comment period.[1]
Background
The the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 prohibited anyone from "taking" bald and gold eagles and delegated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) with managing them. Bald eagles were delisted from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in 2009.[1]
Summary of the rule
The following is a summary of the rule from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
| “ |
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are revising the regulations for the issuance of permits for eagle incidental take and eagle nest take. The purpose of these revisions is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of permitting, improve clarity for the regulated community, and increase the conservation benefit for eagles. In addition to continuing to authorize specific permits, we created general permits for certain activities under prescribed conditions, including general permit options for qualifying wind-energy generation projects, power line infrastructure, activities that may disturb breeding bald eagles, and bald eagle nest take. We also made improvements to the specific permit requirements and process. We also revised permit fees and clarified definitions.[2] |
” |
Summary of provisions
The following is a summary of the provisions from the rule's entry in the Federal Register:[1]
| “ |
In this rulemaking, we create a new subpart E for regulations governing the permitting of eagle take for other interests. We adopt two regulations for administering permitting: specific permits (§ 22.200) and general permits (§ 22.210). We further specify activity-specific eligibility criteria and permit requirements in four sections based on activity and type of eagle take:
|
” |
Significant impact
- See also: Significant regulatory action
Executive Order 12866, issued by President Bill Clinton (D) in 1993, directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine which agency rules qualify as significant rules and thus are subject to OMB review.
Significant rules have had or might have a large impact on the economy, environment, public health, or state or local governments. These actions may also conflict with other rules or presidential priorities. Executive Order 12866 further defined an economically significant rule as a significant rule with an associated economic impact of $100 million or more. Executive Order 14094, issued by President Joe Biden (D) on April 6, 2023, made changes to Executive Order 12866, including referring to economically significant rules as section 3(f)(1) significant rules and raising the monetary threshold for economic significance to $200 million or more.[1]
The text of the Permits for Incidental Take of Eagles and Eagle Nests rule states that OMB deemed this significant, but not economically significant:
| “ |
OIRA has determined that this rulemaking action is significant.[2] |
” |
Text of the rule
The full text of the rule is available below:[1]
See also
External links
Footnotes