Illinois House Passes Bill to Give EPA Power Over Plastic Pellet Spills
House Bill Targets Plastic Pellets Threatening Waterways
The Illinois House of Representatives approved legislation to give the state's environmental protection agency emergency rulemaking powers to address plastic pellet spills and their impact on stormwater runoff.
House Bill 4418, sponsored by Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, recently passed the House 69-33 and awaits action in the Senate. The bill would require the Illinois EPA to develop best practices for facilities that produce plastic pellets within one year of its passing.
Plastic Pellets Threaten Wildlife
Plastic pellets are tiny, white, round objects about the size of a grain of rice that serve as the building blocks of plastic manufacturing. They are shipped from pre-production plastic manufacturers to production facilities, where they are melted and molded into common plastic products.
Emily Kowalski, associate director of Environment Illinois, found eight tiny plastic pellets hidden within the leaves and soil at Chicago's Wild Mile.
"Once you see them, you see them everywhere," Kowalski said.
The pellets can look like food to birds, turtles and fish, and if they ingest too many, they can become ill, starve or be poisoned by toxins from the pellets.
Seven Facilities in Illinois Produce Pellets
According to an analysis of federal EPA data by Environment Illinois, at least seven facilities in Illinois produce plastic pellets, with four of them located near a river.
There haven't been any recent spills connected with the facilities identified in the organization's study, though documenting the source of pellets found in the environment can be challenging since they can be carried long distances on a river or another waterway.
Bill Includes Emergency Rulemaking Powers
The legislation grants the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency emergency rulemaking powers to create a stormwater pollution prevention plan that specifically addresses plastic pellet spills.
House Bill 4418 contains the same language as HB 3278, which passed the House 68-38 last spring but has yet to be taken up by the Senate this session.
Bipartisan Support and Opposition
Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, a cosponsor of the bill, said the state urgently needs to address the central role industrial facilities play in creating water pollution.
In the United States, up to 94% of tap water samples have tested positive for microplastics, which studies have shown have the potential to be passed up through the food chain, Ventura said.
House Republican leadership did not respond to requests for comment. When HB 3278 passed the House last April, Republican floor leader Patrick Windhorst criticized the broad authority it gave to the IEPA.
"It seems like we're just handing that off to the EPA to develop and implement the plan rather than us guiding the plan," Windhorst said, according to transcripts.
The Illinois Manufacturers' Association Stays Neutral
Donovan Griffith, executive vice president and chief security officer for the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, said the association had a neutral stance on House Bill 4418.
Kayla Rivera, communications manager for Epsilyte, a manufacturer in Peru, said the requirements described in the bill are consistent with the practices they already follow. The Epsilyte facility produces lightweight, expandable polystyrene spheres designed to insulate, absorb shock and be durable. The facility sits one street from the Illinois River, past the Starved Rock nature preserve.
Rivera said Epsilyte actively works to minimize pellet loss and prevent spills into nearby waterways.
Michigan Spill Highlights the Problem
In February, Michigan authorities discovered several thousand pounds of pellets that had spilled from a semi-trailer into the Kalamazoo River a month before.
Environment Illinois Organizing Count Day
Kowalski said the biggest hurdle for this effort is really just the lack of understanding. Most people haven't seen a plastic pellet or heard of it.
Environment Illinois is organizing its second annual international plastic pellet count day on May 2, designed to get people out into their communities to look for them. Kowalski said this is a way to both educate people about the issue and gather data about where the pellets are being found.
Identifying Pellets Is Not Easy
Even for Connor Nelson, a volunteer at the environmental nonprofit group Urban Rivers, identifying a plastic pellet is not easy. After Kowalski removed the pellets on Wild Mile, Nelson took a quick look. He first thought they were styrofoam. But after Kowalski said that they actually were plastic pellets, he immediately realized how many he had seen in the area.
"The more you look, the more you see," Nelson said. "It's almost impossible to, one-by-one, pick it up, without feeling somewhat defeated, because you're not going to get all of that."
The Illinois Manufacturers' Association stated that the bill grants emergency rulemaking authority to create stormwater pollution prevention plans specifically for plastic pellet spills.