We Need Lead for Bullets

Open Email to Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY):

Dear Sen. McConnell,
    You have been previously quoted as saying, "“The Second Amendment is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution, and we should protect it wherever we can.” As a refresher for those who may not be familiar with the Second Amendment [to the Constitution], it reads as follows: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." In simple terms, NO GOVERNMENT GUN CONTROL. However, we should be clear that while "arms" and "guns" are synonymous, without ammunition, they are merely clubs.
    As you know, Senator McConnell, the Obama administration and various state governments have done about everything they can to limit the public availability of firearms. However, you and your Republican Associates in the House have strongly resisted this, with some success. In spite of those efforts, we already have significant rights infringement through licensing, etc..
    The latest move toward infringement on the part of the Obama administration is an end run attacking ammunition sources to the people. This has been done through the EPA setting a standard for sulfur dioxide control by a lead smelter involving 10 times the previous restriction. The only lead smelting plant remaining in the US, from previous attacks by the EPA, is the Herculaneum plant at Doe Run, Missouri. With the new EPA restriction on sulfur dioxide emission, that plant will shut down and there will be no domestic source of lead to sell to ammunition manufacturers in the US. Since the federal government controls imports, ammunition manufacturers will be deprived of lead for bullets, and the public will be without ammunition for its firearms.
The EPA has been after the Herculaneum plant for its releases of lead dust and sulfur dioxide contaminating the environment. Ingestion of lead by human beings causes mental problems and sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere leads to acid rain. The company has responded to the lead dust problem with control measures and has bought up surrounding residential properties so that local residents are not exposed. It still emits 42,000 tons of sulfur dioxide annually to the atmosphere. This seems to be the main present concern of the EPA.
However putting the Herculaneum plant sulfur dioxide emissions in perspective, we can compare it with sulfur dioxide emissions of all US power plants, which have been significantly reduced over the years, because of the acid rain problem. In 2012, power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide were still 3.3 million tons. At 42,000 tons sulfur dioxide emission for the Herculaneum plant, this is only 1.3% of the power plant emissions. I believe the Herculaneum plant sulfur dioxide emission is insignificant, because of its specialized application as the single lead producer in the US and an exemption should be made for it.
Joe A. Wolverton, II, J.D. is a correspondent for The New American. He recently had this to say, "Congress must be called upon to immediately defund the EPA and repeal the act that created it, as well as to refuse to ratify any treaty — the Arms Trade Treaty and the Trans-Pacific Partnership — that infringes on the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Once these basic rights are surrendered to unelected, unaccountable international bodies, those rights will be regarded as fungible and revocable at the will of global bureaucrats bent on finally eliminating the Constitution."
I believe Wolverton's request is somewhat excessive. We need the EPA to handle chemical contamination of the environment, as previously recognized in its development. But, it has gotten completely out of control to the extent that it has become a political weapon for the Obama administration. More practically, I suggest Congress make an exception concerning contaminant emissions for the Herculaneum Plant at Doe Run, for the simple reason of its uniqueness as the single lead producer in the US and the need for lead to manufacture ammunition for public firearms.