Chicago City Wire

On June 14, U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (IL-05) and Morgan Griffith (VA-9) reintroduced the bipartisan Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act. This cost-neutral legislation requires that each public building constructed, acquired, or significantly altered by the General Services Administration incorporate bird-safe building materials and design features, to the maximum extent possible. Quigley first introduced this bill in 2010 during the 111th Congress.

“Every year, one 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 Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act—to ensure fatal collisions do not make matters worse.”

“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.

The Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act would permanently reduce bird deaths for little to no cost by requiring that any new or significantly altered buildings incorporate bird-friendly designs. By making this simple change, this legislation will protect endangered birds from dying preventable deaths. The Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act is endorsed by the Animal Welfare Institute, American Bird Conservancy, National Audubon Society, Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund, and U.S. Green Building Council.

“Plummeting bird populations across the country demonstrate the many threats that birds face, including deadly collisions with buildings,” said Susan Millward, Executive Director of the Animal Welfare Institute. “Thank you to Reps. Griffith and Quigley for leading the Bird-Safe Buildings Act, an essential measure that will implement commonsense and bird-friendly design features in federal buildings. This bill is a simple solution with far-reaching benefits for animals, ecosystems, and infrastructure.”

“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 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.”

Dr. Christine Sheppard, Director of American Bird Conservancy’s Glass Collisions Program said, “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. 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.