In December, the final primary lead smelter in the United States will close. The lead smelter, located in Herculaneum, Missouri, and owned and operated by the Doe Run Company, has existed in the same location since 1892.
The Herculaneum Smelter is currently the only smelter in the United States which can produce lead bullion from raw lead ore that is mined nearby in Missouri’s extensive lead deposits, giving the smelter its “primary” designation. The lead bullion produced in Herculaneum is then sold to lead product producers, including ammunition manufactures for use in conventional ammunition components such as projectiles, projectile cores, and primers. …
Doe Run made significant efforts to reduce lead emissions from the smelter, but in 2008 the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for lead that were 10 times tighter than the previous standard. Given the new lead air quality standard, Doe Run made the decision to close the Herculaneum smelter.
It would be hard to imagine a better example of the Obama Regime’s use of the EPA to impose backdoor tyranny. We would let you have guns, but you see lead causes air pollution.
If you think ammo prices are high now, wait until they close the smelter.
After the Herculaneum smelter closes its doors in December, entirely domestic manufacture of conventional ammunition, from raw ore to finished cartridge, will be impossible.
The national security implications of severely curtailing our ability to produce our own ammunition are obvious. But to our current rulers, national security means something very different from what it did in the past. The idea is no longer to defend America from foreign threats, but to impose the ultimate threat from within.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
5 comments:
What's so ironic about this article is that he uses the EPA to get up in arms about lead emmissions but does nothing about the methane and other pollutants used in fracking that are killing our environment.
If you want to know more about obammies politics and the EPA, watch the documentaries Gasland and Gasland II.
You will be left in shock.
There have been issues, since 2010, with the use of lead bullets, and my understanding was, that they were moving away from them.
If that is the case, how much of an issue is this really?
They switched to steel shot in shotguns a long time ago. So I would assume they can do the same for ammo. It's harder on the barrel, but it's better than saying pow, pow.
These people, intent on banning guns and everything to do with them, will not stop.
My father has a business about 10mi from Herculaneum (aka 'Herkie'), and I grew up about 30mi. from the area. There's some information missing from this story. One of the big local scandals my family has shared with me (we moved to the S'bury area 13yr ago) is that the homeowners in Herkie sued Doe Run because they claimed the plant's emissions contaminated their property. The incidence of cancer, asthma, birth defects, etc. was through the roof; significantly higher than other parts of the county. Doe Run settle that suit for roughly (if I remember correctly) $50mil. The Doe Run Corp. also owned a facility in Peru that was found to be responsible for wide-spread contamination there, too. The bottom line is that Doe Run has faced major legal woes and financial losses. The government's air policy isn't the whole story...it's just a final blow to a teetering company. For those folks who are bemoaning the anticipated higher costs of ammo, would you want the smelter in your backyard, contaminating your home, yard, water, & family just so you can have cheaper bullets? Probably not. The people of Herkie doesn't want Doe Run there, even if it does mean job loss.
When you purchase property in Dorchester Co. it is made clear that Dor. is agricultural an you forfeit your rights to whine about farm smells when you sign the purchase contract. No way the Herkies didn't have foreknowledge of the area. Troublemakers, but if they can generate a crisis, hire a wolf pack of lawyers and advance an anti-capitol agenda, they will. Principal is lost and case law moves us all that much further to subjective servitude.
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