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Author Topic: Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013  (Read 1247 times)

Offline GreyGeek

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Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013
« on: May 16, 2013, 11:44:00 AM »
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/29/lead-doerun-smelter-idUSL2E8HT76620120629

Why?

Quote
... the U.S. government had ordered to either shut the smelter or install cleaner technology, said the electro winning technology developed to process lead at Herculaneum did not make financial sense for that site.
...
Due to its agreement to comply with the U.S. government's tighter air standards associated with lead smelting, he said, Doe Run will close its Herculaneum primary lead smelter at the end of 2013.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/17/epa-inspector-general-probes-agency-performance-on-lead-smelters/1842879/

However, in checking the  veracity of the initial story I found 4 corporations  which have Lead smelting facilities:
http://www.manta.com/mb_35_E815502T_000/lead_smelting_and_refining_secondary
but I do not know how many release refined Lead to the ammo industry.

The EPA is closing down secondary smelters in this country as fast as they can.   So, between now and the end of the year get as much ammo as you can.  The shortages may last a lot longer than we realize.

In the Jouster forum a retired hazmat crew member posted this comment:
http://www.jouster.com/forums/showthread.php?30748-Last-US-lead-smelter-closing&s=5de6ac1e5d29bdf3b34dcd31255efeae&p=240758#post240758
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da gimp 
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Join Date  Aug 2009
Location  mid Missouri
...

Matt, I worked on HazMat crews since 1986, when I retired I had more hours in class A suits using type C air(self contained tanks & airlines) than anyone in Mo. & Ks......It is far easier for me to list the Superfund sites that I didn't work on than the ones I did.

The US Dept of Energy was one of the depts whose projects we all liked working on, they do one helluva a job & are incredibly safety concious on their projects. For the most part EPA is very good too on the project level at least....

The main problem is that they like other Federal law enforcement agencies have been heaviliy politicised in their upper levels, those appointees do 99.9% of the damage as they push their far left agendas with the middle & lower level agents trying to contain/mitigate the damage they cause......

We do need to work very hard to elect a president whose administration is not anti-business, on that you are 100% dead on correct sir...........
Last edited by da gimp; 07-04-2012 at 07:11. Reason: spelling
be safe, enjoy life, journey well
da gimp
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« Last Edit: May 16, 2013, 11:59:21 AM by GreyGeek »

Offline JimP

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Re: Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2013, 03:31:43 PM »
The parallels between our present day reality and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged scare the bejeezus outa' me ..........
The Right to Keep and BEAR Arms is enshrined explicitly in both our State and Federal Constitutions, yet most of us are afraid to actually excercise that Right, for very good reason: there is a good chance of being arrested........ and  THAT is a damned shame.  III.

Offline unfy

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Re: Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2013, 07:31:30 PM »
The parallels between our present day reality and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged scare the bejeezus outa' me ..........

I know part 1 of the movie set was released a year or three ago, and a second part released... has the final movie been put out yet ?



Hate the EPA, I really do.  Fourth and prolly most powerful branch of the gov't :(
hoppe's #9 is not the end all be all woman catching pheramone people make it out to be ... cause i smell of it 2 or 3 times a week but remain single  >:D

Offline RLMoeller

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Re: Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2013, 09:03:53 PM »
Part III is still in production.

Offline Gumby

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Re: Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2013, 10:44:46 PM »
GreyGeek's warning... hmmm... maybe unfy can teach a "Lead is your Friend" NFOA course.  8)

Amazing we survived 8,000+ years of smelting without EPA oversight.

Offline unfy

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Re: Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2013, 11:11:34 PM »
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Part III is still in production.

D'oh.  Wanting to wait until all three are released before watching it heh.  Hate having to wait between flicks that are all apart of a single story...

GreyGeek's warning... hmmm... maybe unfy can teach a "Lead is your Friend" NFOA course.  8)

SFG and I toyed with the thought of mentioning bullet casting basics during the reloading class but decided that it was a topic that best deserved it's own separate class if we were to do such a thing.  While the basics are simple enough... there's a fair amount of safety stuff to mention, topics to discuss, etc.  It could easily turn into a couple hours etc.

Clinic would undoubtedly stress safety, protective wear, how to handle accidents, alloy considerations to bullet purpose, different style molds, different style pots, casting techniques, different bullet styles (lube style, gas check or not, etc), sizing, different lube techniques, dealing with lead in the barrel, etc.  And assuming I get everything ironed out - prolly also powder coating ;).

Molds can still be hard to come by, so I doubt there's any interest in such a clinic.

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Amazing we survived 8,000+ years of smelting without EPA oversight.

I hate the EPA. I really do :(.  Above and beyond other regulatory commissions (where are all illegal IMHO) ... but... the fact that they dig their noses into folks that keep just a handful of bunnies and other such things... just... grrr. *hate*



Quote
Article. I.

Section. 1.

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Quote
A body of rules of conduct of binding legal force and effect, prescribed, recognized, and enforced by controlling authority.

In U.S. law, the word law refers to any rule that if broken subjects a party to criminal punishment or civil liability.

Break an agency's regulation, get a fine or go to jail.

Sounds like punishment to me.

Regulations are thus 'laws'.

But not written by Congress.

How does that work ?



I only mention it in passing in the 'definitive answer to selling cast bullets' thread, but the EPA's undoubtedly face-in-your-business is another serious problem for doing so :(.  Even if ya moved to swaging bullets, you're still dealing with Pb and they'd undoubtedly find a way to harass you.

Even if ya moved to all copper bullets or something, I imagine the EPA would find a way to shaft your plump delicious rear end.....



To bring this back on topic:

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/leadp/fr15no11.pdf

"National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Primary Lead Smelting: Residual Risk and Technology Review; Final rule"

PDF has 70834 to 70859 are enumerated at the top.  Are those page numbers ? 70k pages of what exactly ? Are you ****ting me ? And a billion footnotes and such too for 'see this too'.



Closing Pb smelting plants would increase the cost of Pb and also cause us to start importing it.  Pb has a lot of uses outside of high speed projectiles... so... sigh.
hoppe's #9 is not the end all be all woman catching pheramone people make it out to be ... cause i smell of it 2 or 3 times a week but remain single  >:D

Offline GreyGeek

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Re: Doe Run to shut Herculaneum lead plant at end of 2013
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2013, 12:36:00 PM »
Pb has a lot of uses outside of high speed projectiles... so... sigh.

Only 6% of the Pb consumed in America is used to make bullets.   Most of the rest goes into batteries, flashing, pipes and such.