A new report from a government accountability group says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has failed to regulate major pollutants found in wastewater from plastic factories across the country, including 22 in Louisiana.

The Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit group that pushes for stricter enforcement of environmental laws, found that the facilities allowed nitrogen, phosphorus and dioxins to leach into waterways such as the Mississippi River. All pose environmental and health risks, but their release is legally permitted due to outdated federal regulations.

The report analyzes permits and records for 70 U.S. facilities that manufacture plastics or the main chemical components of plastics. He cited lack of oversight and failure to update industry operating permits as reasons why wastewater pollution occurs without repercussions.

“Current federal regulations are outdated and have left downstream communities vulnerable to harmful, poorly controlled pollution released by the plastic industry,” Kira Dunham, research director at the Environmental Integrity Project and lead author of the report, said in a statement. of an online conference on November 14. press conference.

The report also highlights the lack of accountability when even lax regulations are violated. Nearly 83% of all factories examined in the report violated permitted pollution limits at least once between 2021 and 2023, according to companies’ self-reported data in EPA records. Only 14% of these factories faced financial sanctions.

James Hiatt, executive director of the environmental group For a Better Bayou, attended the news conference and spoke about state advisories banning eating fish and crabs caught in the Calcasieu River, where the Westlake plastics plant Eagle US 2 Lake Charles sends its wastewater.

“By consuming this much or any of these fish…you are exposing yourself to known industrial pollution that causes cancer and disease,” Hiatt said.

Five different plastics plants discharge their wastewater directly into the Calcasieu, according to data included in the report.

The report also states that the river contains dangerous levels of known carcinogens such as dioxins, and that the Westlake Eagle plant on Calcasieu released the third highest number of dioxin compounds into bodies of water of any state. U.S. installations in 2022, according to the most recent EPA data. .

THE Illuminator made several attempts to contact Westlake by phone and email, with no response.

A regional EPA spokesperson said the agency was reviewing the report and would “respond appropriately.”

“It is unacceptable that these plastic factories, which profit from our natural resources, can continue to release carcinogens like dioxins into our waterways,” Hiatt said.

The study goes on to cite how communities of color and low-income areas are disproportionately affected by these pollutants. One of the most sensitive areas highlighted is the west shore of Iberville Parish.

The majority of people living near the Dow Plaquemine plastics plant are people of color, and a third of them are mentioned in the report as low-income. More than 75% of the communities around the Shintech Plaquemine plant and the Westlake Chemical & Vinyls Plaquemine plant are made up of people of color, and nearly half are from low-income households, according to figures from the report.

Discharge of materials such as phosphorus, nitrogen, dioxins and other pollutants is permitted in Louisiana and across the country, but the EPA has an obligation under the Clean Water Act to Update federal standards for pollution control technology as new technologies help prevent pollution advances, according to the report’s authors. said.

Updates to standards for organic chemicals produced by the plastics industry have not occurred since 1993, according to the Environmental Integrity Project.

“Federal regulations intended to reduce the industry’s wastewater pollution are outdated and incomplete, allowing companies to legally dump harmful pollution into our rivers, lakes and other bodies of water,” Dunham said.

The Dow Plaquemine plant ranked as the top polluter in 2023 for total dissolved solids among the plastic plants studied. It released 2.8 billion pounds of materials, including chlorides and sulfates, dangerous to aquatic life and corrosive to plumbing.

The Dow plant also ranks second in the United States in nitrogen pollution, with 2 million pounds of total nitrogen dumped into the Mississippi River. It is also the third worst for phosphorus. The EPA set no nitrogen or phosphorus discharge limits for this permit, legally authorizing the Dow plant to discharge unlimited amounts of both substances into the river.

Dow did not respond to several attempts. Illuminator contacted his media representatives by phone and email.

Nitrogen and phosphorus are among the main causes of “dead zones,” areas of poor or no oxygen found in bodies of water that are overly polluted with nutrients. Often found in fertilizers, nitrogen and phosphorus accelerate the growth of algae blooms, which deplete water of oxygen and kill aquatic life.

The Gulf of Mexico has a dead zone that appears seasonally beyond the Louisiana coast with fertilizer runoff from the upper basin states along the Mississippi River. By 2024, the Gulf dead zone has expanded significantly more than scientists predicted, The Lens reported, measuring an area the size of New Jersey.

While plastic is not the only industry with outdated pollution regulations, the Environmental Integrity Project chose to focus on it due to the industry’s growth in recent years. Two dozen plastics plant expansions are underway in the United States, with 10 new plants proposed, Duggan said.

Hiatt called for action following the report’s release.

“We need to hold these polluters accountable and force them to repair the damage they have caused,” Hiatt said.