The Chronicles Of Grant County

Lead Street
Deming

This piece of lead was from the Wermland Mine in Långban, Sweden, and is part of The University of British Columbia Geological Mineral Collection. (The photograph was provided courtesy of the Pacific Museum of Earth of The University of British Columbia.)

Lead Street is an avenue in the City of Deming in Luna County. The street was named after the metal. Lands in this region of New Mexico have been mined for lead.

"Lead is a very corrosion-resistant, dense, ductile, and malleable blue-gray metal that has been used for at least 5,000 years," according to a statement from the National Minerals Information Center of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). "Early uses of lead included building materials, pigments for glazing ceramics, and pipes for transporting water. The castles and cathedrals of Europe contain considerable quantities of lead in decorative fixtures, roofs, pipes, and windows."

"Prior to the early 1900s, uses of lead in the United States were primarily for ammunition, brass, burial vault liners, ceramic glazes, leaded glass and crystal, paints or other protective coatings, pewter, and water lines and pipes," the USGS statement continued. "The advent of the electrical age and communications, which were accelerated by technological developments in World War I, resulted in the addition of bearing metals, cable covering, caulking lead, solders, and type metal to the list of lead uses."

The statement from the USGS went on to note that "with the growth in production of public and private motorized vehicles and the associated use of starting-lighting-ignition (SLI) lead-acid storage batteries and terne metal for gas tanks after World War I, demand for lead increased. Most of these uses for lead continued to increase with the growth in population and the national economy. Contributing to the increase in demand for lead was the use of lead as radiation shielding in medical analysis and video display equipment and as an additive in gasoline."

Environmental regulations and laws changed how and where lead was utilized in the U S. While many uses of lead were no longer acceptable – like using lead in paints and gasoline – other ways to use lead increased within the country.

"By the mid-1980s, a significant shift in lead end-use patterns had taken place," according to the statement from the USGS. "Much of this shift was a result of the U S lead consumers compliance with environmental regulations that significantly reduced or eliminated the use of lead in nonbattery products, including gasoline, paints, solders, and water systems. More recently, as the use of lead in nonbattery products has continued to decline, the demand for lead in SLI-type batteries has continued to grow."

"In addition, the demand for lead in non-SLI battery applications also has continued to grow," the statement from the USGS continued. "Non-SLI battery applications include motive sources of power for industrial forklifts, airport ground equipment, mining equipment, and a variety of nonroad utility vehicles, as well as stationary sources of power in uninterruptible electric power systems for hospitals, computer and telecommunications networks, and load-leveling equipment for electric utility companies. By the early 2000s, the total demand for lead in all types of lead-acid storage batteries represented 88% of apparent U S lead consumption. Other significant uses included ammunition (3%), oxides in glass and ceramics (3%), casting metals (2%), and sheet lead (1%). The remainder was consumed in solders, bearing metals, brass and bronze billets, covering for cable, caulking lead, and extruded products."

A separate report from the USGS provided further details on lead production in the U S. The "Mineral Commodity Summaries 2022 – Lead" detailed that "lead was produced domestically by five lead mines in Missouri plus as a byproduct at two zinc mines in Alaska and two silver mines in Idaho. The value of the lead in concentrates of ore mined in 2021 was an estimated $750 million, 21% more than that in 2020."

"Nearly all lead concentrate production has been exported since the last primary lead refinery closed in 2013," this report from the USGS continued. "The value of the secondary lead produced in 2021 was $2.4 billion, 17% more than that in 2020. The lead-acid battery industry accounted for an estimated 92% of reported U S lead consumption during 2021."

While lead is still utilized in some areas, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has stated in a report that "lead is hazardous to our health. Due to health concerns, in 1973, the Federal government began to phase out lead in gasoline and eliminated it by 1996. The U S government banned manufacture of lead-based house paint in 1978. In 1986, the government restricted the lead content of solders, faucets, pipes, and similar materials."

"Lead exposure remains a significant public health concern because of persistent lead hazards in the environment," the report from the NIEHS noted. "Researchers estimate that half of the U S population, more than 170 million people, were exposed to harmful lead levels in early childhood."

This Federal agency indicated that "no blood lead level is safe."

The NIEHS stated that the primary ways Americans are exposed to lead today come from three specific sources: old paint dust, contaminated soil, and contaminated drinking water.

"Despite the [lead-based paint] ban, lead-based paint is still found in older homes and buildings," the NIEHS explained its report. "This paint may chip, then turn into dust. Lead dust is the most common way that people are exposed to lead in the U S."

"Old lead-based paint flaking off the outside of buildings can mix with soil," this report continued. "Before elimination of lead in gasoline, lead from car exhaust mixed with soil near roads, and it is still there. Also, lead in fumes from metal smelting, battery manufacturing, and some factories became airborne and then mixed with soil. Soils in older areas of some cities remain contaminated by lead due to these lead sources. This lead, when part of soil dust, can also contaminate air."

The report from the NIEHS also indicated that "water from lakes, rivers, or wells is not a common source of lead. Lead contamination in drinking water usually comes from distribution or plumbing lines that leach lead. The only way to know if lead is in drinking water is to have the water tested."

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