00:00If Mr. Whitman has any more comments I would yield time to him. I thank the
00:04gentleman for mentioning the incremental steps being taken when these lead
00:10restrictions begin. I take you back to 1991 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
00:16Service started to say we're actually going to limit the use of lead in the
00:21harvesting of waterfowl. Guess what ultimately happened? Nationwide ban.
00:26Nationwide ban. So you know for those that said oh no you know it's it's it's
00:32it's not going to get to carte blanche. We have history that shows these things
00:35end up in these carte blanche modes. Now if the science demonstrates that, if the
00:41science supports that, then that's fine. But not when you don't have the
00:46underlying data in science to support it. And incrementalism does happen. If a
00:51little bit of something is good in people's minds and you get the camel's
00:55nose under the tent, then guess what? Bring the whole camel under the tent. Say
00:58well if a couple of lead bands are good here and there, then it must be good for
01:01the whole nation. If we use science, why should anybody be afraid of using science?
01:07I mean this should be about what we're all about. Why should anybody object and
01:12say let's base these decisions based on science? It's just confounding to me that
01:19we say oh no no no we have to give we have to give this this limitless authority
01:24to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and it is a carte blanche authority for them
01:28to in any way shape or form say let's just go out there and ban lead. And there's no
01:32obligation for them to say we have to demonstrate the science to show that this
01:36is indeed an issue. Instead you say just go ahead and do it. If you wake up this
01:41morning go I have this feeling I have this this this sensing that somehow there's a
01:46problem with lead and wildlife and in the refuge that I manage we're just gonna
01:52go ahead and ban it. There's nothing that stops that. Doesn't say that you have to
01:55use science to do that and we see incrementally guess what? These things
01:59happen. In 1991 we saw it transfer to a nationwide ban on the use of lead. Now I
02:06would argue that in that situation there were some signs to substantiate that but
02:12the but the jump from localized to nationwide was was a big jump. With that Mr. Chairman I
02:18have you back.
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