The Doe Run lead smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri, established in 1892, will close in December due to EPA regulations on air quality.
According to, AmmoLand, “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. Several ‘secondary’ smelters, where lead is recycled from products such as lead acid batteries or spent ammunition components, still operate in the United States.”
What this means, though, is that ammunition manufacturers will have to get primary lead bullion from overseas sources such as China.
“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.” This seems to be an end-run in the gun control controversy.
The Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI) that “The all-out attack on Americans’ gun rights is now being taken to the next level.” “[M]assive stockpiling effort by the Department of Homeland Security has forced ammunition prices to nearly triple, while also dwindling supplies of many popular calibers.”
The new EPA regulations would require an estimated $100 million to convert [to non-smelter manufacturing], so Doe Run decided to close the smelter. This will also destroy American jobs.
SPPI also notes “And after we can no longer manufacture ammunition domestically we have the UN Arms Trade Treaty to stop the importation of ammunition.”
Better stock up on bullets now.
EPA air quality regulations are affecting not just lead smelters. There are now only three copper smelters in the US, two in Arizona, one in Utah. (The lack of smelting capacity is the reason the proposed Rosemont mine may have to send its copper concentrates overseas.) Will we soon have to send all copper ore overseas? EPA is also endangering our electricity production with its war on coal-fired generating plants such as the Navajo plant in Arizona which provides the electricity to run the Central Arizona Project that provides water to Tucson.