A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation has resulted in the sentencing of an oil production company, Ray Westall Operating, Incorporated in the violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act resulting in the death of migratory birds.
The Corporation was charged with violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) in Las Cruces Federal District Court on November 29, 2006 and was ordered to pay an $11,108.50 fine, a $50.00 special assessment fee and was placed on two years probation.
Ray Westall Operating, Incorporated was found guilty in a Federal District Court on July 19, 2006 in the take of thirty-four migratory birds. The dead birds had been discovered within an open oil pit near Carlsbad, New Mexico by Bureau of Land Management employees on August 15, 2002. The discovery was referred to the Services Office of Law Enforcement for further investigation. The birds recovered from the uncovered oil pit were identified as western kingbirds, orioles, meadowlarks, pyrrhuloxias, lark buntings, and cactus wrens.
The owner of the company, Ray Westall, is a former New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Commissioner. The Southwest Regions Assistant Special Agent in Charge Juliana Scully said, "these types of violations and investigations reiterate the Services commitment to the protection of migratory birds and resultant production companies found to be in violation."
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