SW Virginia News

U.S. Congressmen Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) introduced the Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act, legislation designed to permanently reduce bird deaths for minimal cost by requiring that any public building constructed, acquired, or significantly altered by the General Services Administration (GSA) to incorporate bird-safe building materials and design features.

Currently, building collisions lead to up to one billion bird deaths every year. By making simple changes, this legislation will help protect endangered birds from dying unnecessary, preventable deaths.

“The Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act would help reduce the roughly billion bird collisions with buildings that happen each year. These changes to federal designs for newly constructed or renovated public buildings will have little to no impact on the budget, but considerable benefits for birds and the ecosystems in which they exist,” said Griffith.

“Every year, 1 billion birds are killed by collisions with buildings in the United States. To make matters worse, these deaths are preventable. Our bill is a cost-neutral, common-sense solution to this crisis. By incorporating bird-safe features into public buildings, the federal government can lead the effort to save these animals from further endangerment,” said Quigley. “As our climate changes, bird populations are under increasing threat of extinction. We must make changes where we can — like implementing the Bird-Safe Buildings Act — to ensure fatal collisions do not make matters worse.”

“Up to one billion birds are killed every year from building collisions alone. We can readily curtail this threat, and today’s reintroduction of the Bird-Safe Buildings Act helps ensure the federal government leads by example. Thank you, Rep. Quigley and Rep. Griffith for your leadership on this important issue. This legislation comes at a critical time when North America is witnessing an alarming loss of birds — nearly 30% since 1970. Incorporating bird-friendly design in building construction not only reduces bird mortality but also can increase energy efficiency, at little to no extra cost. This is a win-win,” said Felice Stadler, Vice President, Government Affairs, National Audubon Society.

“Just as the Federal government is a leader in sustainable, energy efficient buildings, this bill will ensure it leads in protecting birds as well, showing the private sector that there are proven, science-based and cost-effective strategies that work to reduce the risk of bird collisions,” said Elizabeth Beardsley, Senior Policy Counsel of the U.S. Green Building Council. “We appreciate the bipartisan attention to this issue by Representative Griffith and Representative Quigley. While this bill focuses on the federal building portfolio, we believe it can have a much broader impact in the future, by demonstrating these strategies in the real world and developing a design guide that would be available to anyone to use.”

“Congressmen Griffith and Quigley have been steadfast in their campaign to protect our nation’s birds. They have inspired action across the country in places like Maryland and New York City, and ABC supports this bill enthusiastically,” said Dr. Christine Sheppard, Director of American Bird Conservancy’s Glass Collisions Program. “Birds are a natural resource, and the bill will help to ensure that this resource will be available for generations to come!”

Original source can be found here.