Proposed S. Carolina Bill Cracks Down on Pellet Producers Polluting Water

South Carolina senators are considering legislation to crack down on companies that pollute the state’s waters with tiny plastic pellets.

A Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee voted 3-2 Wednesday to approve a bill that would give the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control the power to directly regulate the state’s pellet producers by approving permits and enforcing violations.

The pellets, also known as nurdles, are bead-like bits of plastic used to make larger plastic products. Many of these pellets are exported through the port of Charleston, where area residents have complained in recent years of finding the pellets clogging up local waterways.

Sen. Sandy Senn, R-Charleston, the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation was necessary as the pellet industry would only continue to grow in the state.

In one recent dispute over the origins of a 2019 pellet spill at Sullivan’s Island, pellet company Frontier Logistics paid $1 million to two environmental groups that had sued over the alleged pollution.

Sarah Church, a council member of the town, told lawmakers Wednesday that the pellets were “the most insidious pollutant to arrive, ever.”

Environmentalists speaking in favor of the bill said the pellets are virtually impossible to clean up due to their size and quantity and cause damage to animals, including sea turtles and passing migratory birds, which might mistake them for nutritious horseshoe crab or fish eggs.

Sen. Billy Garrett, R-McCormick, voiced the need to support the businesses but added, “on the other hand, as my mother used to say, cleanliness is next to godliness.”

No one testified against the bill Wednesday. The legislation now heads to the full Senate Medical Affairs committee.