Coach,
That seems to be a quite specific determination. It does say: "......while the petition does provide evidence of exposure and a risk to waterfowl in some areas of the United States.............".
So, it seems to me that there is little the "common man" can do about the fish and waterfowl we love. However, it seems to me that even the possibility of harming either resource through our actions should be eliminated. It is not like there is no easy alternative action we "common folks" can do to eliminate even the possibility of damaging ducks, geese, swans, pelicans, etc.. One such simple actions is to use a lead free substitute while fishing/hunting.

I really believe we should err on the side of caution.

Someone has mentioned, in another post, the loss of fowl to wind turbines. That is a problem too. Yet, there is little I can personally do about such BIG issues. There are, however, some day-to-day things we can do that might not add to the overall problem.

This is a fishing oriented forum and using lead free weights, I believe, is appropriate to mention.