Sponsors (52)
The bill would reduce plastic pellet pollution and related health and environmental harms—especially in disadvantaged communities—at the cost of new compliance, enforcement, and administrative burdens for industry, governments, and taxpayers, with potential legal risks from accelerated rulemaking.
Urban and rural communities will experience less plastic pellet pollution in waterways and runoff, improving local water quality and reducing aquatic contamination.
People who fish, swim, or recreate in local water bodies will have lower exposure to plastic debris, reducing health risks and protecting ecosystem services they depend on.
Disadvantaged and overburdened communities will see reduced environmental burdens from microplastic pollution, advancing environmental justice outcomes.
Facilities that manufacture, use, package, or transport pre-production plastics (including small businesses) may face new compliance and remediation costs, and taxpayers or ratepayers could face higher enforcement and monitoring expenses.
State and EPA permitting programs may face significant administrative burden and potential backlogs from revising numerous NPDES permits and issuing new rules on a short timeline.
The statute's expedited rulemaking deadlines (e.g., 60 days) create legal and implementation risk if agencies cannot complete required analyses, potentially producing challenges or litigation that delay effective enforcement.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires EPA to ban discharges of plastic pellets and pre‑production plastic materials and to require that prohibition be included in NPDES permits and performance standards.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Mike Levin · Last progress February 12, 2026
Prohibits discharges of plastic pellets and other pre‑production plastic materials from covered industrial sources and requires the EPA to issue a final rule within 60 days of enactment. The prohibition must be written into NPDES permits issued by the EPA and by state programs delegated to administer those permits, and into standards of performance for applicable point sources.