Texas regulators proposed cracking down on harmful plastic “nurdles” — and then changed their minds

Plastic pellets, known as nurdles, collected at Point Comfort in March 2019. (Credit: Emree Weaver/The Texas Tribune)

When Texas proposed an update to state water standards this March, environmentalists viewed it as a step in the right direction. The rules didn’t go as far as the advocates had hoped, but at least they would have required chemical companies to proactively prevent hundreds of thousands of tiny bits of plastic — dangerous and, at times, fatal to wildlife — from escaping into the environment.

But now, the plan to ban microplastic pollution has been scrapped, documents show.