Look carefully along the banks of the Congaree River and you may notice clusters of tiny beads embedded in the mud.
Those beads, commonly called nurdles, are polluting the river below Columbia, threatening wildlife and sparking concerns about potential toxic effects on water quality, environmentalists say.
On Thursday, June 18, a conservation group sued in federal court to stop discharges of pellets it says are coming from an industrial plant near Gaston. The Alpek Polyester plant has been releasing nurdles for years upstream from Congaree National Park, according to the Congaree Riverkeeper organization…