Austin Business Journal: Congressman calls for crackdown on plastic pollution

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett and other national lawmakers are pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce plastic waste and pollution in an effort to prevent microplastics from entering the nation's waterways.

"As our waterways overflow with plastics and our bodies are invaded by microplastics, now is the time for urgent, meaningful action, not timidity," stated Doggett, an Austin Democrat, in a June 28 announcement. "To respond to the growing harm and a massive, misleading plastic industry marketing blitz, EPA should be doing much more and doing it sooner. If we continue to kick the plastic bottle down the line, this type of pollution will continue to wreak havoc on our communities."

The release of plastic pollutants is particularly a concern in the Lone Star State where environmental regulations are particularly lenient. A key area of concern is the Gulf Coast, where materials enter waterways that flow into the Gulf of Mexico and then travel up to the food chain, eventually impacting humans.

The EPA did not respond to a request for comment.

A study conducted by the engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting firm Burns & McDonnell found that nine cities in Texas spend more than $50 million annually on prevention, education, abatement, and enforcement efforts.

The joint letter calling on EPA Administrator Michael Regan to pursue efforts to reduce plastic waste and pollution comes days after 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) reached a $10.3 billion settlement to resolve hundreds of lawsuits filed by cities around the country against the Minnesota-based manufacturer for contaminating local water supplies with "forever chemicals" used in firefighting foam.

3M is also a major maker of plastic-based products.

The letter also comes months after a group of environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA for not setting a water pollution limit on some industrial contaminants based on the standards set in place by the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Texans for Clean Water, an organization launched by the construction professional Mike Garver of Houston and the Dallas-born real estate developer Trammell Crow that aims to improve recycling efforts across the state, shares that the state produces 400,000 tons of plastic trash and litter annually.