Company fined for Forth pollution

The oil slick spanned nearly 10 miles of the Firth of Forth

Contractors at Grangemouth's giant oil refinery have been fined for causing an oil slick which covered almost 10 miles of the Firth of Forth.

Ondeo Industrial Solutions were ordered to pay £3,000 for the environmental breach in July last year.

The court heard that about 100mg of oil per litre of water went into the river after heavy rainfall inundated Ondeo's plant.

The case was heard at Falkirk Sheriff Court.

Ondeo Industrial Solutions, which oversees water and wastewater infrastructure at the refinery, discharged the oil through an emergency flume meant for use under storm conditions.

The company had been carrying out maintenance work at the time of the leak.

Fiscal depute Graham McLachlan said the scale of the leak became apparent after investigations by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

This successful prosecution highlights the serious nature of such polluting incidents which can have a devastating effect on a wide area of the ecosystem Colin Bayes Sepa

"The slick was dispersed as far as the Forth Bridges - a landmark in the area," he added.

"One of the conditions that Sepa set out when licensing this plant is that waste water must not contain more than 90mg/l of oil.

"Snapshot samples taken showed a level of 103 mg/l.

"Mercifully, the environmental impact was much reduced. At this time of year the numbers of birds were low and there were no reports of any oiled birds or fish kills."

Ondeo, based in Bo'ness Road, Grangemouth, pleaded guilty to a charge of carrying out a controlled activity likely to cause pollution of the water environment on 4 and 5 July, 2007.

A plea of not guilty to another charge of carrying out a controlled activity likely to cause pollution of the water environment was accepted by the Crown.

Refinery owners Ineos had not guilty pleas to both charges accepted.

'Contingency plans'

Fining Ondeo, Sheriff Craig Caldwell said the firm should have had a "contingency plan" in place for extreme weather during its maintenance programme.

He added: "Fortunately, there was no damage to the marine environment.

"The company operates in an industry that is of significant economic and environmental impact on the country.

"They take their duties and responsibilities very seriously, and have co-operated with Sepa.

"Nonetheless, they have a duty to comply and should have had contingency plans in place to deal with this event."

After the hearing Colin Bayes, director of environmental protection and improvement at Sepa said: "The area is of high nature conservation value and it is recognised by a number of national and international special designations.

"It includes a large coastal area comprising a complex of estuaries, mudflats, rocky shorelines, beaches and salt marshes.

"This successful prosecution highlights the serious nature of such polluting incidents which can have a devastating effect on a wide area of the ecosystem."