PA Environment Digest Blog: The Allegheny Front: Three Rivers Waterkeeper Citizen Monitoring Finds Plastics Maker Styrenics LLC Discharging Plastic Nurdles Into Ohio River, Threatens Lawsuit To Stop Them

By Reid Frazier

The following article was first published by The Allegheny Front on October 3, 2023--

Captain Evan Clark of Three Rivers Waterkeeper started trawling the shores of the Ohio River in Beaver County in September 2022 to monitor Shell’s newly opened ethane cracker for water pollution.

He began finding plastic pellets called nurdles, similar to what the plant was supposed to produce. But the pellets weren’t the same size or shape as what Shell’s plant would make.

“We started seeing these plastics that we couldn’t attribute to Shell,” Clark said.

Three Rivers Waterkeeper and other organizations traced the nurdles to a separate plastic plant nearby — BVPV Styrenics LLC — owned by the Texas-based polystyrene maker Styropek.

On Tuesday, Waterkeeper and PennEnvironment announced they were filing a 60-day notice of intent to sue Styropek for water quality violations in federal court in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Clark said he found an outfall from where the pellets seemed to be emanating: a wastewater pipe that empties into Raccoon Creek, a tributary to the Ohio River.

“Every time I go to the outfall where I see them coming from, most commonly I see hundreds, if not thousands of fish swimming around in that outfall, potentially ingesting these nurdles,” Clark said.

Heather Hulton VanTassel, executive director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper, said the groups have continued to find nurdles near the plant nearly a year after they reported the alleged violations to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

“We were finding the nurdles that Styropek produces, and we’re finding them in high concentrations in the sediment as well as the vegetation and in the water just outside their outfall,” VanTassel said.

VanTassel said wildlife can ingest these pellets, or they can break down into smaller microplastics and end up in drinking water. What’s more, they adsorb persistent toxins in the environment, many of which are carcinogens. “So these become these little hotbeds of toxicity,” she said.

After the groups notified the DEP, the agency conducted inspections in December 2022 and January 2023 and issued notices of violation, noting nurdles were visible “in the soil at the stormwater outfalls” for the facility and “on the bank and in the creek.”

Under the [federal] Clean Water Act, the plant will have 60 days to come into compliance or face a lawsuit from the groups.

The plant was formerly owned by Nova Chemicals but was sold to Styropek in 2020.

Lauren Camarda, a spokesperson for the DEP, said in an email the agency “takes violations of the law seriously and will always work to ensure clean air and pure water for Pennsylvanians. DEP does not comment on ongoing enforcement cases, nor does it comment on matters in litigation.”

Gina Hogue with BVPV Styrenics said in an email that many of the allegations “are inconsistent with our operations, our products, and our testing and permit compliance. We are in the process of evaluating those allegations.”

NewsClips:

-- The Allegheny Front: Groups Threaten To Sue Beaver County Plastics Manufacturer For Releasing ‘Nurdles Into Ohio River Tributary

-- Beaver County Times: Groups To Sue Styropek For Plastic Discharge At Potter Twp. Facility

-- Post-Gazette: Environmental Groups Announce Intent To Sue Beaver County Plastics Manufacturer For Discharging Plastic Nurdles

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 -- Company Tries To Limit DEP Investigation; Unauthorized Water Withdrawals; Can’t Pay For Reno Cleanup; Venting Gas Wells; More Abandoned Conventional Wells [PaEN]

-- Repsol Gas USA Issued Violation For Denying DEP Right To Document Damaged Shale Gas Well Casing During Investigation Of Uncontrolled Gas Venting In Bradford County [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Violation To CNX Gas Company For Unauthorized Water Withdrawals For 17 Days From Beaver Run Reservoir In Westmoreland County [PaEN]

-- Petro Erie Inc. Again Claims It Lacks The Financial Ability To Comply With DEP’s 2nd Order To Cleanup Conventional Oil Well Wastewater Spill That Contaminated The Village Of Reno’s Water Supply In Venango County [PaEN]

-- Environmental Hearing Board Will Hear Key Arguments On Appeal By A Washington County Family Alleging Shale Gas Drilling Contaminated Their Water Supply With PFAS And Other Chemicals [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - October 7 [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On PA General Energy Constructing 3 Shale Natural Gas, Water Pipelines Thru Exceptional Value, High Quality, Wild Trout Streams In Lycoming County [PaEN]