Lead Ban Chronicles – It’s On! NRA and CRPA File Intent To Sue Over CA Lead Ammo Ban

Phillip, the letter makes three general arguments:

1) That various F&G regulations are in direct conflict with other state laws;
2) That the Commission has no authority to regulate firearms, per se;
3) That due to recent Supreme Court rulings, these laws have overstepped their authority per the 2nd Amendment.

Also, there is no reference to lead bans in this letter. It’s all about regulations that completely prohibit firearms (like during archery season, or in wildlife areas). There is no condor zone reference in the intent letter, as far as I could tell.

Oh, no, I mean no argument here. I was just pointing out that this was a larger issue they were bringing before the law, and I didn’t notice lead ban language. Thanks for the clarification. Sorry for the confrontational tone.

That update is really important! It’s also a good idea to tell people that they can comment completely anonymously. For example, here is my comment:

“2. Prior to making a rule banning a particular substance, the EPA must, itself, determine that the substance poses a serious health risk to habitat or people. Given the literally hundreds of years that lead ammunition has been used in the field, with no discernible effect beyond very particular species, the EPA must address the total impacts as a concern warranting a full ban.

3. The EPA must either explain how it proposes to ban only lead from ammunition and fishing, while ignoring all other vectors of lead into the environment, in particular the single largest vector, tire balance weights.

I look forward to the manner in which you will address these issues. Thank you.”

It’s really easy, and the agency MUST address your points, so long as they are within the subject.

Kevin Kreyenhagen Said:

“…It has been over two years since the lead ban took effect and the condor is supposedly still testing positive for lead. Now there is a push to go nation wide on the ban of lead. Monterey County is ground zero for the lead ban and I am embarressed. California, the land of fruits and nuts…”

Mr. Kreyenhagen,
On June 23, 2010, and on behalf of the NRA, the CRPA Foundation and various hunters, and in conjunction with the firm of Michel and Associates, I presented research that our team had done showing that the blood lead levels of condors remain well-elevated in through 2009 study period. This is despite the imposition of AB 821′s mandatory ban in “condor country”.

The elevated blood lead problem in condors appears to be well evident in Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and San Benito County, through December 2009.

Information that we submitted to the Commission, including a complete data set that I had personally handed to Dr. Eric Loft (in addition to the sets for each Commissioner and the three sets required by DFG staff) included the spreadsheets obtained from the US Fish & Wildlife Service under a FOIA request.

These spreadsheets for 2009 augment the spreadsheets that were presented in August 2009 at the Woodland hearing, which amount to all recorded blood lead measurements from 1966 to the end of 2009 for free-flying California condors. DFG and the Commission are thus in possession of all laboratory blood lead test values related to lead, and a sizeable portion of field meter test results for lead recorded up through the end of 2008 (USFWS seems to be discontinuing the reporting of LeadCare II data, perhaps related to a lack of reliability…).

You can probably contact Jon Fischer or Dr. Eric Loft to obtain copies of this data, along with our reports showing that condor blood lead levels remain elevated despite a mandatory ban. You may want to get a copy of these from them to present to the Monterey County Fish & Game Advisory Commission, so that they can be apprised of the latest data available to the public.

If they do not provide you with a copy of the full set for your review, let me know and I will get you a set.

Respectfully,

Anthony Canales