diff --git a/src/java/com/twitter/search/feature_update_service/FeatureUpdateController.java b/src/java/com/twitter/search/feature_update_service/FeatureUpdateController.java
index 505808038..25424fe7e 100644
--- a/src/java/com/twitter/search/feature_update_service/FeatureUpdateController.java
+++ b/src/java/com/twitter/search/feature_update_service/FeatureUpdateController.java
@@ -106,8 +106,6 @@ public class FeatureUpdateController implements FeatureUpdateService.ServiceIfac
 
   @Override
   public Future<FeatureUpdateResponse> process(FeatureUpdateRequest featureUpdate) {
-    long requestStartTimeMillis = clock.nowMillis();
-
     // Export overall and per-client request rate stats
     final String requestClientId;
     if (featureUpdate.getRequestClientId() != null