People said that when I posted this story a week or so ago too. Maybe it’s the price we pay for getting rid of a company that treats the environment with contempt, and as I’ve pointed out to my liberal pals many times, having clean air and water and “conserving” natural resources are absolutely “conservative” ideas. I’ll wait to see what happens, but it seems that when you remove a primary smelter from the industry by regulatory action and force ammo makers to rely on recycled and imported lead, it can’t help but have an impact on price. But I could be wrong.
And maybe, like the 30 year exemption granted to wind farms over eagle deaths, it’s part of the price we have to pay to achieve other goals.
Those “other goals” to a leftist are primarily centered around thinking of themselves as “good people”, and secondarily about being superior to those who “don’t care as much”.
Lead ore will continue to be mined in Missouri and other states. Smelters exist in Canada and Mexico. Scrappers collect batteries and old wheel weights and can move those supplies into the market without smelting. If the price goes up, someone will build a new smelter to modern air quality standards.
In regard to Herculaneum, I should add I used to travel the river road, calling on industrial customers in Missouri and Illinois. The air over the smelter was almost always a peculiar orange color. The taste of metal in the air was unmistakable.