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Manufacturers, Retailers to Put the Brakes on Use of Lead Wheel Weights
www.ohsonline.com ^ | 09/03/2008 | Staff

Posted on 09/03/2008 7:24:07 AM PDT by Red Badger

Tire companies, big box stores, and the government are putting the brakes on the use of lead wheel weights. Through EPA's National Lead-Free Wheel Weight Initiative, partners have agreed to phase-in the use of lead-free alternative wheel weights and reduce the amount of lead released into the environment by 2011.

"Our partners have pledged to reduce or eliminate their use of lead wheel weights," said Susan Parker Bodine, assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "Their efforts will remove millions of pounds of lead from the environment and the waste stream."

Eliminating lead wheel weights is a significant step toward reducing the overall amount of lead released into the environment. EPA estimates that 50 million pounds of lead per year are used for wheel weights in cars and light trucks. It is common for wheel weights to come off when a vehicle hits a pothole in the road or stops suddenly, which results in lead entering the environment. Lead-containing wheel weights also add lead into the environment as they move into the waste stream at the end of product life.

The charter members include Firestone Complete Auto Care; Firestone Racing (a division of Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire); Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.; Costco Wholesale; Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express; Sam's Club Tire and Battery Centers; Wal-Mart Transportation; Hennessy Industries Inc.-BADA Division; Perfect Equipment; 3M Automotive Division; the U.S. Air Force; U.S. Postal Service; General Services Administration; Ford Motor Co.; General Motors Corp.; Chrysler; Plombco; the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers; the Town of Blacksburg, Virginia; the Ecology Center; Sierra Club; the Environmental Council of States and several small businesses.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/minimize/nlfwwi.htm


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: auto; brakes; enviroment; lead; tires; transportation
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Braking News!...............
1 posted on 09/03/2008 7:24:08 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: sully777; vigl; Cagey; Abathar; A. Patriot; B Knotts; getsoutalive; muleskinner; sausageseller; ...

This is beyond ridiculous............


2 posted on 09/03/2008 7:25:02 AM PDT by Red Badger (All that carbon in all that oil and coal was once in the atmosphere. We're just putting it back.....)
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To: Red Badger

I wonder how big the replacement weights are going to be.


3 posted on 09/03/2008 7:27:23 AM PDT by B Knotts (Calvin Coolidge Republican)
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To: Red Badger
I demand depleted uranium wheel weights! (1.67 times the density of lead)
4 posted on 09/03/2008 7:27:25 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Whale oil: the renewable biofuel for the 21st century.)
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To: B Knotts
I wonder how big the replacement weights are going to be.

40% smaller if my demands in post #4 is met.

5 posted on 09/03/2008 7:28:22 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Whale oil: the renewable biofuel for the 21st century.)
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To: Red Badger

If they can come up with an alternative to using lead, why is this so ridiculous???


6 posted on 09/03/2008 7:28:50 AM PDT by Living Free in NH
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To: Red Badger

How about those little fishing sinkers I bite on so they clamp down on the line. I think they’re next.


7 posted on 09/03/2008 7:28:54 AM PDT by toast
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To: Red Badger
Well, if we replace lead by depleted uranium (nice and heavy) from spent nuclear reactor cores, we would solve the "lead problem", as well as "what to do with nuclear waste". That's called a "win-win" situation!
8 posted on 09/03/2008 7:29:34 AM PDT by TomKOne
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To: Red Badger

“This is beyond ridiculous..”

Why?


9 posted on 09/03/2008 7:30:30 AM PDT by Magic Fingers
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To: Red Badger

Gee, now I’ll have to buy salmon sinkers instead of casting them from wheel weights. Oh, no big deal, I forgot that we’re not allow to fish for salmon anymore.


10 posted on 09/03/2008 7:30:41 AM PDT by sasquatch
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To: Living Free in NH
If they can come up with an alternative to using lead, why is this so ridiculous???

Cost.

11 posted on 09/03/2008 7:30:54 AM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: B Knotts

I think the solution is smaller more streamlined uranuim weights. The can be so small as to be pretty much unseen.


12 posted on 09/03/2008 7:31:26 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Conservation? Let the NE Yankees freeze.... in the dark)
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To: Red Badger

Your fishing sinkers are next.


13 posted on 09/03/2008 7:31:55 AM PDT by therut
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To: toast

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E6DD133EF935A15757C0A9649C8B63


14 posted on 09/03/2008 7:32:47 AM PDT by Red Badger (All that carbon in all that oil and coal was once in the atmosphere. We're just putting it back.....)
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To: KarlInOhio

no no no murcury would be better.


15 posted on 09/03/2008 7:33:32 AM PDT by Vaduz (and just think how clean the cities would become again.)
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To: KarlInOhio

no no no murcury would be better.


16 posted on 09/03/2008 7:33:41 AM PDT by Vaduz (and just think how clean the cities would become again.)
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To: therut

so are our bullets..


17 posted on 09/03/2008 7:36:16 AM PDT by rahbert
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To: facedown

Cost, and I find it hard to believe that they actually pollute the environment.


18 posted on 09/03/2008 7:36:23 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Red Badger
How have people survived drinking Colorado water for thousands of years? The water table runs through these lead invested areas.

How do Texans, Louisiana, and Oklahomans live with all that oil in their water table? We are all gonna die, I tell you. You don't see any polar bears in Texas do you?

19 posted on 09/03/2008 7:37:34 AM PDT by chuckles
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To: Red Badger

So what are they going to do about Leadville? The place high up in the mountains, it showers down lead on the rest of the country ... Lead is everywhere in Leadville.

The more you see, the more you realize, liberalism is a mental disease.


20 posted on 09/03/2008 7:38:09 AM PDT by Tarpon (Three things matter when selecting a President character, character and character.)
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To: sasquatch

and you can’t use lead sinkers either. :)

think positive tho, as soon as this goes into effect, you *should* be able to get a whole lot of lead real cheap by buying out the remaining stock. also, the price of lead will probably plummet, getting us much cheaper lead.


21 posted on 09/03/2008 7:39:53 AM PDT by absolootezer0 ( Detroit: we're so bad, even our mayor is a criminal)
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To: Red Badger

Exactly where does the lead come from in the first place...Mars??


22 posted on 09/03/2008 7:40:08 AM PDT by Bob Buchholz
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To: rahbert

Yep, I better go pick up plenty of wheel weights so I can make some “non-tagged” marbles, sinkers, bullets, and fishing weights!! hehe


23 posted on 09/03/2008 7:40:26 AM PDT by biff
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To: KarlInOhio
"I demand depleted uranium wheel weights"

Cool....I want some that glow in the dark.

24 posted on 09/03/2008 7:40:43 AM PDT by spokeshave (Obama wants to raise taxes and kill babies. Palin wants to raise ba bies and kill taxes.)
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To: toast
How about those little fishing sinkers I bite on so they clamp down on the line.

You know, they make a nifty little set of pocket size fishing pliers that have a small depression in the jaws to accommodate those types of fishing sinkers. It would keep you from having to bite down on them.

25 posted on 09/03/2008 7:41:23 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Conservatives say, 'Seeing is believing.' - - - Liberals say, 'Believing is seeing'.)
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To: Red Badger

My crystal ball which is linked to the law of unintended consequences indicates a big jump in waste tires entering the environment.


26 posted on 09/03/2008 7:42:05 AM PDT by meatloaf
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To: Living Free in NH

why is this so ridiculous???

Only you can answer that question to the satisfaction of those who believe in what freerepublic stands for. Let me just mention a few words, there are many more, bullets, sinkers chinese toys, paint, x-ray room walls racecar ballast. The point at which government’s intrusion into our way of life becomes “beyond ridiculous” varies with each person, but sooner or later you will reach your limit.


27 posted on 09/03/2008 7:42:14 AM PDT by wita (truthspeaks@freerepublic.com)
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To: hiredhand; Joe Brower; Tijeras_Slim; 300winmag; Lurker

Dang ....so much for free roadside reloading components when the biker zombies take over !


28 posted on 09/03/2008 7:43:36 AM PDT by Squantos ((Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: Red Badger

***which results in lead entering the environment***

And lead comes from where?


29 posted on 09/03/2008 7:47:27 AM PDT by Gamecock ("Justification is withdrawn from works....that we may not ascribe salvation to them." Jean Chauvin)
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To: Magic Fingers

Because it is not a problem; it doesn’t need solving; and it sure doesn’t need solving by government bureaucrats making new regulations all paid for by taxpayers and consumers.


30 posted on 09/03/2008 7:48:52 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: chuckles
In other news, Galena, IL, is currently undergoing an emergency evacuation. Leadville, CO has been declared off limits as well.
31 posted on 09/03/2008 7:48:55 AM PDT by JimSEA (just another liberal-bashing fearmonger)
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To: toast
“How about those little fishing sinkers I bite on so they clamp down on the line. I think they’re next.”

You are correct. Best stock up. We recently finished building an Imaging Center where they specialize in advanced MRI’s. There were literally sheet upon sheet of lead being thrown in a dumpster after the rooms were lined. We took them melted it and made about a thousand large sinkers. You won't be able to get them soon!

32 posted on 09/03/2008 7:50:08 AM PDT by poobear (“…individual salvation depends on collective salvation." Barack Hussein Obama Wesleyan University)
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To: KarlInOhio

sweet
I’ll feel better in my Jeep with du wheel weights


33 posted on 09/03/2008 7:51:26 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: Red Badger

It is common for wheel weights to come off when a vehicle hits a pothole in the road or stops suddenly, which results in lead entering the environment.

BS. Yes it does happen but its not “common”.

Happens now and again. But in all my years of driving, I’ve never lost a weight.


34 posted on 09/03/2008 7:51:42 AM PDT by Adder (typical bitter white person)
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To: Squantos
Dang it! I literally just started casting my own boolits last weekend - now this!

Looks like I'm going to have to depend on berm mining to get my bulk raw material. Getting antimony and tin to sweeten the alloy will be the trick.

I may have to pummel a Greenie today. 8^)

35 posted on 09/03/2008 7:51:55 AM PDT by AngryJawa ({IDPA, NRA} All Hail John Moses Browning)
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To: rahbert

so are our bullets...

actually - they’ve already gone there - you can’t hunt ducks and geese over the water with lead shot - they sell steel and bismuth shot as alternatives - but the steel is too light and makes for cripples and the bismuth is very, very expensive.

f**k ‘em - I still use lead - haven’t been caught yet.


36 posted on 09/03/2008 7:55:18 AM PDT by palomonte (the universe tends to unfold as it should)
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To: Red Badger

“reduce the amount of lead released into the environment “

Ummm. If lead dosen’t come from the environment, ie. the planet we live on,
then where does it come from? Then again if it will keep kids from sitting beside the road chewing on tire weights I guess thats a good thing.


37 posted on 09/03/2008 7:59:49 AM PDT by Leg Olam ("Every dog, we are told, has his day, unless there are more dogs than days." Bat Masterson)
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To: Red Badger
which results in lead entering the environment

Where does lead originate? Surely not in the environment?

38 posted on 09/03/2008 8:03:46 AM PDT by Eagle Eye (Man who live in glass house should get dressed in basement.)
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To: toast
How about those little fishing sinkers I bite on so they clamp down on the line. I think they’re next.

Already are on the way out. Alternative materials are already on store shelves - brass being one of the most common. Also at a much higher price than lead.

What I don't get - lead is treated as if it is unnatural - as if it is a manmade element. Where do they think lead comes from? The earth...

39 posted on 09/03/2008 8:09:05 AM PDT by TheBattman (Vote your conscience, or don't complain about RINOs!)
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To: wita; All

Remembering when Dupont’s patent expiration of refrigerants congress mandated their new one which was a “non polutant to polar caps”)I see stuff like this and my reaction is “follow the money”
This sillyness about “lead” is the point behind my campaign to bann CFL’s,posted in http://www.theusmat.com/ The problem is those holdover legislators who should get booted because they voted for these lemmingist “global warming” mandates (by the way no sun spot activity we’re in for a very cold spell) are creating some serious unintended consequences


40 posted on 09/03/2008 8:09:34 AM PDT by mosesdapoet (Time to recall those. poisonous CFLs and the polticians who mandated them)
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To: therut
Your fishing sinkers are next.

FROM MY COLD, DEAD, WET HANDS!..........

41 posted on 09/03/2008 8:10:26 AM PDT by Red Badger (All that carbon in all that oil and coal was once in the atmosphere. We're just putting it back.....)
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To: facedown
Cost

But you don't know what the cost is. But, then again, neither do I. If lead is a hazard, why not try to come up with a reasonable substitute?

42 posted on 09/03/2008 8:10:30 AM PDT by Living Free in NH
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To: Red Badger

National EPA-free initiative needed.


43 posted on 09/03/2008 8:12:09 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: palomonte

...and the bismuth is very, very expensive.

Just use this instead......

44 posted on 09/03/2008 8:12:16 AM PDT by Red Badger (All that carbon in all that oil and coal was once in the atmosphere. We're just putting it back.....)
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To: toast
How about those little fishing sinkers I bite on so they clamp down on the line. I think they’re next.

I'm not a fisherman, but I believe lead sinkers are illegal in NH.

I believe the law was signed by one of our recent lib governors (Shaheen), but what's the big deal? Won't a steel sinker sink just as well? Evidently so - folks still fish up here.

45 posted on 09/03/2008 8:14:24 AM PDT by Living Free in NH
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To: Red Badger

just use this instead...

I use that stuff after I eat those nasty a*s geese.


46 posted on 09/03/2008 8:20:50 AM PDT by palomonte (the universe tends to unfold as it should)
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To: Red Badger

There are already a number of alternatives to lead weights. There are powder, bead and liquid balancers that many would argue are better than a dead weight affixed to the rim. The internal balancing agents adjust as the tire wears using a very predictable force in the universe; centrifugal force.


47 posted on 09/03/2008 8:26:32 AM PDT by IamConservative (On 11/4, remember 9/11...)
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To: palomonte

Do you know a lot about geese and ducks? It seems we have some cross bred birds at a lake near here. They appear to be a cross between a familiar gray goose male and a Muscovy female duck. Is this possible?......


48 posted on 09/03/2008 8:29:01 AM PDT by Red Badger (All that carbon in all that oil and coal was once in the atmosphere. We're just putting it back.....)
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To: Red Badger
Just like lead shot for “water foul” hunting. Yet, last I checked, lead doesn't leach like other heavy metals.

So, now you'll be paying about $5 for a wheel weight made of Tungsten or Bismuth instead of $.05

49 posted on 09/03/2008 8:37:30 AM PDT by fightinbluhen51 ("...If it moves, tax it, if it moves faster, regulate it, if it stops, subsidies it.")
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To: Red Badger

don’t know


50 posted on 09/03/2008 8:37:48 AM PDT by palomonte (the universe tends to unfold as it should)
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