diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 9c70019ff2a..003b0a303eb 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -167,6 +167,8 @@ Release 2.5.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   BUG FIXES 
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5759. Remove unnecessary conf load in Limits (Sandy Ryza)
+
 Release 2.4.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/counters/Limits.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/counters/Limits.java
index aa1696772ca..34b0fae6e82 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/counters/Limits.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/counters/Limits.java
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@
 @InterfaceAudience.Private
 public class Limits {
 
-  static final Configuration conf = new JobConf();
-
   private int totalCounters;
   private LimitExceededException firstViolation;