3 Weeks After Citizens Sued Dow Over Years Of Plastic Pollution, Company Pushing TX To Legalize That Pollution
Two weeks ago, when Texas sued a massive Dow petrochemical plant over water pollution, state environmental regulators were already considering a novel proposal from the company that would effectively legalize discharges of plastic material from the 4,700–acre complex into waters feeding San Antonio Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. If approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, it could set a precedent for authorizing discharges of materials like polyethylene pellets and PVC powder from other plastics manufacturing facilities, legal experts said.
Dow and its subsidiary, Union Carbide Corporation, requested the tweak to its wastewater permit in a 320-page application filed Jan. 4—three weeks after a citizen group announced plans to sue the companies over unpermitted plastic pollution. The TCEQ posted the application for public comment in February.
“Dow/UCC’s latest request is unprecedented,” said Rebecca Ramirez, a Houston-based attorney at the nonprofit Earthjustice, who is representing the citizen group, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper. “We are not aware of any other instance where TCEQ has granted such an exception.” A TCEQ spokesperson, Richard Richter, declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. The State of Texas sued Dow on Feb. 13 alleging years of “habitual” water pollution violations involving plastic pellets at its Seadrift complex. The state’s lawsuit had the effect of blocking the Waterkeeper lawsuit.
Neither Dow, the largest North American chemical manufacturer, nor Union Carbide responded to queries about the proposed amendment. The company’s permit amendment application sought, among other things, to loosen standard language that limited “floating solids” to “trace amounts” in chemical plant wastewater. Dow’s application said that language is “vague” and “has the potential to be more stringent than necessary.” It didn’t specify a new limit but said “proposed language will be forthcoming.”
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02032026/dow-requests-texas-plastic-pollution-permit/