ENVIRONMENT groups have hit out after a firm was fined just £3,000 for an oil slick that spread nine miles across the Firth of Forth.
Ondeo Industrial Solutions, which operates a waste-water treatment plant at the Grangemouth oil refinery, had faced a fine of up to £40,000 under environmental laws. After carrying out maintenance work in heavy rainfall, water contaminated with oil r
an from its plant in Grangemouth as far as the Forth Bridges in July last year.
The Firth of Forth is a Special Protection Area due to its important habitats and populations of wading birds. Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, branded such a low fine "meaningless".
"Scotland has a history of poor enforcement of environment law and this is unfortunately all too typical in that even when a gross polluter is taken to court, they walk away with a fine which is utterly pennies in comparison with corporate resources," he said.
Lloyd Austin, head of conservation policy at RSPB Scotland, agreed there was a history of fines being lower in this country than in England and Wales. "There's a history of them being so low that they don't provide an effective deterrent," he said.
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Ondeo was carrying out maintenance work in a storm water plant in July last year when it was inundated with heavy rainfall.
It was missing half its storage space because sludge was being cleared that had built up inside, as well as one of its three "separator pipes", designed to remove oil from waste water in heavy rain.
As a result, the company pumped water containing 103 milligrams of oil per litre into the Firth of Forth, compared to 90mg allowed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).
Fiscal depute Graham McLachlan told the court: "It would be fair to say there was a significant aesthetic impact – the oil was a blot on the landscape. The slick was dispersed as far as the Forth Bridge, a landmark in the area."
He said fortunately the oil slick hit at a time of year when the number of birds was low, and there were no reports of oiled birds or fish. He added: "Mercifully, the environmental impact was much reduced."
Yvonne Waugh, defending, told the court Ondeo had made efforts to ensure that a similar incident could never happen in the future. She said the flow of effluent was far higher than usual due to heavy rainfall.
"It was considered safe at the time to carry out the maintenance as it was not thought the levels would be so high," she said.
Sheriff Craig Caldwell said the firm should have a contingency plan for extreme weather.
Ondeo, based in Bo'ness Road, Grangemouth, pleaded guilty to one charge of carrying out a controlled activity likely to cause pollution of the water environment on 4 and 5 July last year.
No-one from Ondeo was available for comment last night.
