The United States is facing a shortage of TNT, a high explosive that is essential to the manufacturing of commercial explosives products, like cast boosters, which are commonly used in the mining and construction industries, according to the Institute of Makers of Explosives , or IME.

"Everything from your cellphone to your laptop to the roads you drive on to work, the homes you live in, just about everything you use on a daily basis started from commercial explosives," said IME President Clark Mica.

The United States has depended on foreign suppliers of TNT since the mid-1980s, when the last domestic TNT facility shut down largely due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations. TNT production creates hazardous waste that poses risks to human health, according to the Environm

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