from Sunday Herald, 28 May 2006
Twelve industrial companies working across Scotland have been named by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) for failing to curb pollution risks.
The “dirty dozen” include some of the country’s biggest firms and several repeat offenders. Many have breached pollution permits and several are facing legal action to force them to improve. Most of the companies accepted they made mistakes, but one launched a fierce counter-attack, accusing Sepa of being “heavy-handed” and “unprofessional”.
Last week Sepa released its Operator Performance Assessment for 2005, covering about 200 industrial sites. The performance of 12 operators at 13 sites was judged “unsatisfactory” because of persistent failures to control pollution.
The lowest-ranked company was fish farming multinational Marine Harvest, which also failed Sepa’s assessment the previous year. The company’s Blar Mhor plant in Fort William has been served an enforcement notice for breaching eight conditions of its pollution permit, including a “no odour management plan”.
Fish farming campaigners called on the company to clean up its act. “By discharging fish guts, blood, scum and grease into the River Lochy, Marine Harvest has jeopardised not only the health of wild salmon but also the already tarnished reputation of Scottish farmed salmon,” said Don Staniford of the Pure Salmon Campaign.
Marine Harvest was “disappointed” by Sepa’s rating. “We are working hard to improve results and, as part of that, structural changes were agreed and communicated to Sepa during 2005,” said the company’s environmental manager, Ben Hadfield.
Chipboard manufacturer Norbord was the only company to have two sites labelled as unsatisfactory. Its plant at Cowie near Stirling belched excess pollution into the air after abatement equipment was damaged by a fire, while a plant near Nairn twice leaked water after equipment breakdowns.
The multinational accepted that both plants had experienced problems, but the company’s environmental director, Stephen Roebuck, said £2.7 million was being invested in new equipment to solve these problems. “We’re a very ethical company,” he insisted.
Scottish Power’s sewage sludge plant at Daldowie in Glasgow is the only site to be assessed as a failure by Sepa for three years running. It was served an enforcement notice in December 2004 to try to combat bad smells. Scottish Power said that plant modifications since then had greatly reduced public complaints, and claimed that Sepa’s verdict was the result of a “technicality” .
Managers of the Alcan aluminium smelter near Fort William accepted it had breached its pollution permit, but said this was due to an “administrative error”.
Grieve Groundworks, which runs the Mains of Taymouth landfill site near Aberfeldy, admitted that returns had not been filed under previous management. Another landfill site at Skares in Cumnock was deemed unsatisfactory because it had five fires burning in the waste, but the operator, Barr, said they had been put out “months ago”.
By far the angriest response to Sepa’s assessments came from the Tullis Russell paper mill at Markinch in Fife, served an enforcement notice after complaints about pollution were said to be “substantiated”. The mill’s managing director, Chris Parr, said he was “outraged” by Sepa’s “blatant and absolutely unnecessary misrepresentation”.
He admitted deposits of dust might have sometimes been a “nuisance”, but claimed they didn’t all come from the mill. A coal boiler had also been operated “over the permitted hours”, he said.
But Parr went on to accuse Sepa of a “heavy-handed and inappropriate, unprofessional approach”, and added: “Highly misleading and damaging publicity such as this does not serve to influence environmental performance.”
This was disputed by Friends of the Earth Scotland, which pointed out that most companies named previously by Sepa had improved their performance. “It’s good to see that many of the worst sites have responded positively to the glare of publicity,” said the group’s chief executive, Duncan McLaren. But he added: “Scotland needs a regulatory system in which persistent failures face swift, strong deterrents, including loss of operating licences and stiff fines.”
Other companies assessed as failures did not respond to enquiries, and an intensive pig farm at Lower Inchdrewer Farm in Banff could not be contacted.
“It is important that we work with companies whose performance is less than satisfactory and identify how the sites can be improved,” said Sepa’s Audrey Terry. “However, Sepa will not shy away from taking enforcement action in relation to sites which consistently fail to meet Sepa’s standards.”
SCOTLAND'S WORST POLLUTION MANAGERScompany / problems / SEPA score (the lower, the worse)
1) Marine Harvest fish processing plant, Fort William / eight breaches of pollution permit / 12
2) Norboard chipboard plant, Cowie, Stirling / increased pollution after equipment failure / 14
3) Dales dry dock, Aberdeen / unauthorised discharges / 14
4) Scottish Power sewage sludge plant, Daldowie, Glasgow / legal action to curb emissions / 16
5) Ibstock brick works, Uddingston / breaching pollution limits / 16
6) Pig finishing unit, Lower Inchdrewer Farm, Banff / legal action to curb smell / 16
7) Norboard board plant, Nairn / discharges after equipment failure / 17
8) Total Waste Management Alliance, Peterhead / inadequate maintenance / 18
9) Alcan aluminium smelter, Fort William / breaches of pollution permits / 18
10) Tullis Russell paper mill, Glenrothes / legal action to curb emissions / 18
11) Grieve Groundwork landfill, Mains of Taymouth, Aberfeldy / failure to submit waste returns / 18
12) Barr Garlaff landfill, Skares, Cumnock / fires burning inside waste / 21
13) SGL carbon fibre plant, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire / breaches of pollution permit / 24
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