II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 505

To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency not

to act under section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit

the manufacturing, processing, or distribution of certain fishing sinkers

or lures.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 6, 1995

Mr. HARKIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection

Agency not to act under section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act to prohibit the manufacturing, processing, or distribution of certain fishing sinkers or lures.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Common Sense in

5 Fishing Regulations Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) millions of Americans of all ages enjoy rec2 reational fishing; fishing is one of the most popular

3 sports;

4 (2) lead and other types of metal sinkers and

5 fishing lures have been used by Americans fishing

6 for hundreds of years;

7 (3) the Administrator of the Environmental

8 Protection Agency has proposed to issue a rule

9 under section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act,

10 to prohibit the manufacturing, processing, and dis11 tribution in commerce in the United States, of cer12 tain smaller size fishing sinkers containing lead and

13 zinc, and mixed with other substances, including

14 those made of brass;

15 (4) the Environmental Protection Agency has

16 based its conclusions that lead fishing sinkers of a

17 certain size present an unreasonable risk of injury to

18 human health or the environment on less than defin19 itive scientific data, conjecture and anecdotal infor20 mation;

21 (5) alternative forms of sinkers and fishing

22 lures are considerably more expensive than those

23 made of lead; consequently, a ban on lead sinkers

24 would impose additional costs on millions of Ameri25 cans who fish;
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1 (6) in the absence of more definitive evidence of

2 harm to the environment, the Federal Government

3 should not take steps to restrict the use of lead sink4 ers; and

5 (7) alternative measures to protect waterfowl

6 from lead exposure should be carefully reviewed.

7 SEC. 3. FISHING SINKERS AND LURES.

8 (a) DIRECTIVE.—The Administrator of the Environ9 mental Protection Agency shall not, under purported au10 thority of section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act

11 (15 U.S.C. 2605), take action to prohibit or otherwise re12 strict the manufacturing, processing, distributing, or use

13 of any fishing sinkers or lures containing lead, zinc, or

14 brass.

15 (b) FURTHER ACTION.—If the Administrator obtains

16 a substantially greater amount of evidence of risk of injury

17 to health or the environment than that which was adduced

18 in the rulemaking proceedings described in the proposed

19 rule dated February 28, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 11122

20 (March 9, 1994)), the Administrator shall report those

21 findings to Congress, with any recommendation that the

22 Administrator may have for legislative action.

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