Ranking Member Huffman Opposes GOP Bill to Block Lead Protections on Public Lands: "Our Public Lands Belong to the American People, Not the NRA"

Washington, D.C. — Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) took to the House Floor to oppose H.R. 556, Republican and NRA-backed legislation that would block federal land managers from restricting lead ammunition and fishing tackle on public lands and waters, even when science shows lead is killing wildlife.

“We are on day 19 of Trump's illegal war of choice with Iran. 13 American service members so far are dead, 200 more are wounded. Gas prices have surged $0.80 a gallon just in the last three weeks. Grocery bills climbing, oil over $100 a barrel. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. So, what is it in the face of this chaos and calamity that the United States House of Representatives has chosen to do this week? Debate a bill about lead ammunition in our nation's wildlife refuges," Ranking Member Huffman said on the House Floor.

"Now, we banned lead from gasoline, we banned it from paint, we banned it from children's toys. We did that because lead is a known lethal neurotoxin that never breaks down. That same lead, in the form of spent ammunition or lost fishing tackle, can kill wildlife, and it does so on our public lands and waters right now, in some cases at levels that are far too high. Now, Republicans are proposing a bill that would make this a lot worse."

On the bill's impact on hunters and anglers, Ranking Member Huffman added, "Even under this administration, the Trump administration, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued targeted lead restrictions in eight refuges specifically to open new hunting and fishing opportunities near sensitive Endangered Species Act listed wildlife species. But if this bill is enacted, the Fish and Wildlife Service would have to close those sensitive areas for hunting and fishing entirely to comply with the ESA. And that's going to leave hunters and anglers with fewer places to fish and hunt."

Ranking Member Huffman continued, "Proponents of this bill often claim that banning lead will price out hunters and anglers. But the data tells a very different story. An analysis of 86 different bullet calibers and cartridge sizes found no significant price difference between lead-free and lead core ammunition in popular calibers. Switching to non-lead tackle can add less than 1% to the average angler's total annual costs."

"Our public lands belong to the American people, not to the NRA and the gun lobby. H.R. 556 imposes a federal mandate to allow the spread of a known lethal toxin across our nation's wildlife refuges, across waterways and the habitats that our children will inherit. We must reject this bill and let public land managers make the tough calls and do their job."

Background

H.R. 556 would bar federal land managers from restricting lead ammunition or fishing tackle on public lands and waters. To act, agencies would need to prove through site-specific field data that a species decline is "primarily caused" by lead — a standard designed to be impossible to meet. The bill would also undermine existing lead protections in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and California, and conflicts with the Endangered Species Act and a 2022 settlement governing hunting and fishing in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Lead poisoning has been documented in over 130 species, including bald eagles, California condors, and common loons. The Fish and Wildlife Service currently maintains targeted lead restrictions in a handful of refuges specifically to keep hunting and fishing opportunities open near ESA-listed species; if H.R. 556 passes, those areas would have to close entirely. When the federal government phased out lead shot for duck hunting in 1991, the gun lobby predicted the end of the sport. Waterfowl populations rebounded instead, and hunters gained more birds and more places to hunt.

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