"Purportedly swayed by a 'misleading legal opinion' sent by the National Rifle Association, the EPA  recently shot down a petition to ban lead-based hunting bullets nationwide. A coalition of environmentalist groups filed the petition in August, arguing that 3,000 tons of lead ammo scattered yearly by hunters throughout the country’s prairies, mountains, and lakes sickens and kills millions of animals.

The Environmental Protection Agency‘s denial, said its representatives, was based on the understanding that the organization doesn’t have the legal authority to regulate bullet sales. Conservation advocates, though, argue that the EPA does in fact have that power, and that back room politics and lobbying rather than factual data helped inform the agency’s decision."

Tyler Hayden reports for the Santa Barbara Independent September 28. [2]