jOe is correct. Everything changed in the chrome plating industry after 1975. Prior to then the process created hexavalent chromium (remember the 2000 Erin Brockovich movie?), a potent carcinogen, and lead, cyanide and cadmium. The disposal issues thereof shut down most of the small operators, and it's my understanding that chrome plating remains a big business in Tijuana where the waste water can be dumped in the drain, to the Tijuana River (sewer) and then ends up on the beach in San Diego. There is a shop in Phoenix that is reported to haul everything to Nogales for the plating.
The post-1975 process is much safer, but the businesses must treat their own waste water - very expensive.
I believe that's the process SKB used to black chrome the exterior of their barrels until they ran afoul of environmental issues in Japan.
