EPA, Hawaii Accused of Overlooking Microplastics in Water

The EPA failed to consider the polluting effects of microplastics when approving lists of at-risk bodies of water in Hawaii, a nonprofit said in federal court in Hawaii.

The state didn’t include waters impaired by plastic pollution in its lists sent to the agency in 2016 and 2018, the Center for Biological Diversity says in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Listing a body of water as impaired requires the state or the EPA to set limits on water pollution.

The lawsuit says plastic, especially the tiny pieces known as microplastics, are ...