EPA is not sufficiently regulating wastewater from plastic production plants, a new report says.
The Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit founded by two former EPA attorneys, found that many petrochemical plants do not have any limits in their permits for discharging nitrogen and phosphorous into waterways.
Of the 70 plants studied, none had limits on total nitrogen in their pollution control permits. One had a limit on phosphorous pollution.
In total, they discharged almost 12 million pounds of the harmful nutrients into waterways in 2023, the report found. Nitrogen and phosphorous create low-oxygen zones known as “dead zones” where most marine life cannot survive.
