Environmental groups, company settle suit involving plastic pellets on Sullivanâs Island beach
VIDEO: Environmental groups, company settle suit involving plastic pellets on Sullivan s Island beach By Live 5 Web Staff | March 3, 2021 at 6:41 PM EST - Updated March 3 at 6:41 PM
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit between two environmental groups and a company involving plastic pellets that washed up on Sullivanâs Island in the summer of 2019.
Charleston Waterkeeper and the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League blamed Frontier Logistics for the plastic pellets, known as nurdles, that washed up on the beach and filed a suit against the company.
settlement after it was accused of releasing plastic packaging pellets into Charleston Harbor.
The settlement is still pending court approval but was filed publicly and settled March 3, according to a new release from the
Southern Environmental Law Center. The settlement specifies that the agreement doesn’t indicate that accusations against Frontier were proven.
The $1 million settlement will be paid in four installments and deposited into an account that will fund water-quality improvements in the Charleston Harbor watershed, the release said. Another $225,000 will go toward paying for attorneys fees and expert costs, the settlement said.
“The ultimate goals of this lawsuit were to stop plastic pellets from polluting Charleston waterways and to compensate for the harm caused by that kind of plastic pollution,” said Catherine Wannamaker, a senior SELC attorney. “We’re pleased to say that has been accomplished.”