barnbwt
member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2011
- Messages
- 7,340
"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"
Now, if they were shuttering the nearby mine, I might worry (even slightly) about the lead supply being affected. That it isn't tells me all I need to know. Fact is, lead (and all) metal smelting form ore is a nasty business; it's simply hard to do it cleanly enough to coexist with communities to the standards which we are accustomed (i.e. living next to a plant shouldn't have a measurable impact on your test readings --like it or not, that's the "acceptable standard" in our modern society). Foreign lands can do it dirtier, so they can do it cheaper, and they are willing to live (or not) with the consequences for the time being. We don't smelt our own lead from ore, we don't make much of the raw PVC we use for everything, either. Same reasons.
You guys complaining about how the "liberals" and whatnot are anti industry and want us in grass huts need to take a look at the Russian back country to see what government-driven industry will do in the hands of "leftists." People skim kerosene leaking from tanks and pipes from the surface of their water supplies, massive areas are blighted from all sorts of chemical (and nuclear) fallout from industrial facilities/disasters, and the Aral Sea is nearly dried after irrigation diversion, threatening to expose decades of discarded radioactive waste at the bottom. People seem to forget we allowed Lake Eerie to catch on fire, once
"Future wars will be fought with lead free ammunition."
They already are; from a strategic perspective, massed enemies are humbled by precision guided munitions packing high explosives.
From Wiki: Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 A.D
I thought the name was familiar. For some reason I was thinking it was the name for elemental Mercury (I forgot the symbol was Hg). Should totally be the name for a tough or heavy metal, though
TCB
Now, if they were shuttering the nearby mine, I might worry (even slightly) about the lead supply being affected. That it isn't tells me all I need to know. Fact is, lead (and all) metal smelting form ore is a nasty business; it's simply hard to do it cleanly enough to coexist with communities to the standards which we are accustomed (i.e. living next to a plant shouldn't have a measurable impact on your test readings --like it or not, that's the "acceptable standard" in our modern society). Foreign lands can do it dirtier, so they can do it cheaper, and they are willing to live (or not) with the consequences for the time being. We don't smelt our own lead from ore, we don't make much of the raw PVC we use for everything, either. Same reasons.
You guys complaining about how the "liberals" and whatnot are anti industry and want us in grass huts need to take a look at the Russian back country to see what government-driven industry will do in the hands of "leftists." People skim kerosene leaking from tanks and pipes from the surface of their water supplies, massive areas are blighted from all sorts of chemical (and nuclear) fallout from industrial facilities/disasters, and the Aral Sea is nearly dried after irrigation diversion, threatening to expose decades of discarded radioactive waste at the bottom. People seem to forget we allowed Lake Eerie to catch on fire, once
"Future wars will be fought with lead free ammunition."
They already are; from a strategic perspective, massed enemies are humbled by precision guided munitions packing high explosives.
From Wiki: Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 A.D
I thought the name was familiar. For some reason I was thinking it was the name for elemental Mercury (I forgot the symbol was Hg). Should totally be the name for a tough or heavy metal, though
TCB