Nurdle Remediation: Developing Restoration Approaches to Pre-Production Plastics Pollution
Andrew Labay
Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Austin, Texas
Authors: A. Labay, C. Gaddy, J. Gibson, L. Vitale, and R. Fikes
A large industrial complex located on the Mid-Texas Coast that produces pre-production plastics released plastics into an impounded creek and adjacent bay system over several decades. As a result of a Clean Water Act lawsuit, the company is required to remove plastic pellets in the creek system and estuary complex and to remediate and restore damaged natural resources. Freese and Nichols, Inc. was selected as a third-party consultant to develop a coastal resource remediation plan for plastic pellet removal and subsequent restoration, the first of its kind in the country. Our Environmental Science and Coastal Group is undertaking this multidisciplinary project, incorporating the skills of our engineers, geologists, biologists, ecologists, and geomorphologists. This presentation will provide an overview of the ongoing remediation efforts of the project, including development and implementation of comprehensive sampling plans, removal of plastics from highly dynamic environments, and ecosystem restoration activities within the impacted environments.
About Andrew Labay
Andrew Labay is a senior fisheries biologist with Freese and Nichols. He has worked in the field of natural resource management for over 30 years, 9 of which were with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as a pollution biologist and the remainder in private consulting. His office is in Austin, Texas, but his work takes him all over the State and sometimes includes assignments in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Most of his work as a consultant has been Clean Water Act Section 316(b) permitting, FERC hydropower licensing, contaminant assessments of aquatic communities, aquatic habitat restoration, and addressing threatened and endangered species issues. Andrew also works for his family business which involves fisheries and habitat management of private lakes. Their business includes culturing native aquatic plants for lake and stream restoration projects, a fish hatchery for private lake stocking, and the management of nuisance aquatic species. Andrew recently served on the Texas Aquatic Plant Management Society Board of Directors and 10 years on the Colorado County Groundwater Conservation District Board of Directors.