Environmentalists Push for Ban on Lead in Ammo and Fishing Tackle
By Carol Bambery
The Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, and others submitted a petition on August 3, 2010 under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). The petition aimed to regulate the distribution of lead in shot, bullets, and fishing gear. EPA rejected the portion of the petition to ban lead in ammunition on August 27, 2010, stating Congress expressly exempted ammunition from being regulated by this law. EPA’s decision was based on the exclusion of shells and cartridges from the definition of “chemical substance” in TSCA section 3(2)(B)(v).
On November 11, 2010, EPA denied the proposal to regulate lead in fishing gear on the basis that the petitioners did not exhibit the need to do so in order to prevent risk to public health or the environment as required by TSCA. Last month the Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Project Gutpile sued the EPA for failing to regulate lead. The plaintiffs are asking that the Court order the EPA to initiate the petitioned action, namely to develop and implement regulations “to prevent poisoning of wildlife by spent lead shot, bullets and lead containing fishing tackle.” NSSF and Association of Battery Recyclers’ have already filed motions to intervene which have been opposed by the Plaintiffs. SCI and NRA have confirmed that they will also intervene in this case.
Carol Bambery, General Counsel for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Washington, D.C., will file an amicus brief on the side of the EPA, SCI, NRA and NSSF on behalf of the 50 state fish and wildlife agencies. The federal court brief will set out examples of when lead has been a concern, the state fish and wildlife agencies have been proactive in implementing regulations, educational initiatives and other efforts to reduce lead exposure to fish and wildlife in cases where population-level impacts have been documented. The steps the states have taken make a nationwide ban on all lead inappropriate. The federal court will hear the case in late spring.
