Leaders from around the country will discuss how they’re combating plastic pellet pollution

PIRG, Environment America, and Environmental Action will be hosting a national webinar, “Protecting our waters from plastic pellet pollution” on June 12th at 10am PT/1pm ET, which will highlight local activists from Texas, South Carolina and Pennsylvania that are standing up to plastic facilities that are dumping plastic pellets in their local waterways. Congressman Mike Levin will share more about a new bill he is sponsoring in Congress that can help stop this pollution in the first place. 

Plastic pellets, sometimes called “nurdles,” are one of the most nefarious forms of plastic pollution. Once spilled or dumped into our rivers, streams and oceans, these plastic pellets are nearly impossible to clean up. And it’s a big problem– an estimated 200,000 metric tons of plastic nurdles enter the ocean every year.

Our upcoming webinar will feature activists from across the country who are suing these polluters in court– and winning. We’ll also discuss a federal bill called the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act that could be a game changer in preventing pellets from ending up in our waterways.

Speakers include:

Representative Mike Levin, CA-49 (California)

Representative Levin represents California’s 49th congressional district, which spans between northern San Diego to southern Orange County. He introduced the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act, together with Representative Peltola (Ak-at large). 

Catherine Wannamaker (South Carolina)

Catherine is a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. She represented Charleston Waterkeeper and the Coastal Conservation League in a case against Frontier Logistics, a plastic pellet exporter. 

Captain Evan Clark (Pennsylvania)

Captain Evan is a waterkeeper with Three Rivers Waterkeeper. Together with PennEnvironment, Three Rivers Waterkeeper is suing a company named BVPV Styrenics LLC and its parent company Styropek USA for allegedly discharging pellets within their storm and waste water.

Eric Harder (Pennsylvania)

Eric works for the Mountain Watershed Association and has developed a close relationship with water over years of rafting and kayaking. Eric has gone from being surprised at seeing his first nurdle to now believing they are ubiquitous within his local landscapes. 

Diane Wilson (Texas)

Diane works for the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper and is the recipient of the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize for North America and she was the plaintiff in a case against Formosa Plastics in 2019. This landmark case was settled for $50 million dollars, which is the largest Clean Water Act settlement won by a private citizen. 

Lisa Frank (Washington D.C).

Lisa is the Executive Director of Environment America and the Vice President and D.C. Director of the Public Interest Network. She has been spearheading the work behind building support for the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act.

Join us for this informative and inspiring event!