That 'last lead smelter' alarmism has been pretty much refuted.
The one closed recently was a 'primary smelter', it made metallic lead directly from ore.
That process has been on the wane in the US for a long time, mostly because of economics. It's simply cheaper to have it done overseas and let them poison themselves doing it. The process COULD be done here safely, just like any number of industrial processes that have been moved elsewhere.
It all depends on what you want to pay for lead.
Today, the price of lead has stabilized at about 95 cents a pound, give or take. The wild swings seem to be over.
The future politics of lead use are unclear. I suspect the target shooter will be able to use lead as long as the shot is recovered. The hunter... best plan for something else. This isn't a real disaster. There are suitable nontoxic alternatives that in quantities used by hunters aren't a real hardship.
The biggest problem with acceptance of nontoxic shot is that people simply don't enjoy being told what to do. I'm one of them.
As a sideline to the lead smelter misinformation, most of our lead comes from China. China is the biggest lead exporter. I've seen much blame for high lead prices heaped on the Chinese, when in fact they export much more than they use. A high percentage is also reclaimed lead, reclaimed in a domestic 'secondary smelter', of which we have several running.
