Well, if this story isn’t for the birds! Painters working on the Girard Point Bridge in South Philadelphia, a prime nesting spot for peregrine falcons, and their employer are in trouble with the feds because they didn’t watch the birdies as required.
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The birds are protected under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the federal Department of Transportation (DOT). The employer’s contract to refurbish the bridge included a condition to refrain from working near any nests during a specific period.
However, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a few days short of the end of the nesting season, a supervisor directed three workers to power sand in a restricted zone near some nests. You guessed it! … The noise frightened the birds, and they permanently abandoned the nests along with the eggs they were sitting on.
The company now had two big problems on its hands. One was that it knew that they could get in big trouble for the bird situation. The second was that one of the workers who allegedly disturbed the nests was an undocumented worker.
Knowing that an inspection of the birds would be forthcoming, the three workers allegedly conspired to hide information about why the birds flew away from special agents. Furthermore, another coworker was allegedly intimidated into taking the blame for the undocumented worker.
Unfortunately, the case was being investigated by the FBI, the DOT, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, and the Amtrak Inspector General. That’s a lot of feds!
And since one of the painters was an undocumented worker, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations were also involved.
So, the workers were eventually arrested and then indicted for allegedly conspiring to make false statements and other charges (see the FBI press release) and potentially face years behind bars if they are found guilty.
The Amtrak Inspector General?
I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous. Look at how much money is going to be spent by government looking into this matter. No one should have expected them to do the job and have to worry about disturbing the birds.