New publications this month:
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY AND THE DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)
Pollution Prevention for Businesses
The Environment Agency and DEFRA have issued online guidance for organisations in England on pollution prevention and meeting environmental requirements. This guidance concerns topics such as:
Water Efficient Products: Enhanced Capital Allowances
The water efficient technologies product and criteria lists has been updated. These documents list the eligible water technologies and products under the Capital Allowances (Environmentally Beneficial Plant and Machinery) Order 2003.
Businesses installing items from the lists may claim up to 100% in enhanced first year capital allowances.
OIL AND GAS AUTHORITY (OGA)
UK's Oil and Gas Decommissioning Strategy
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has published its strategy for decommissioning in the UK oil and gas sector.
United Utilities and contractors fined almost £1m for polluting brook with corrosive bleach
United Utilities Water Limited (UU) and its contractor (KMI+) were found guilty of polluting a brook near Bolton. A 1.7km stretch of the brook was badly polluted and virtually all aquatic organisms, including fish, shrimp and earthworms were killed.
While carrying out improvement works, the companies decided to dilute a barrel of 300 litres of sodium hypochlorite by putting a hosepipe into the tank. However, this tank was allowed overflow and this resulted in releases to the site drainage system.
The companies had not surveyed site drainage adequately. There were faults in the drainage system which meant that the diluted bleach entered the surface water drainage system and was released into a brook.
Breach
United Utilities were found guilty of breaching Regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010:
Penalty
United Utilities Water Ltd was fined £600,000 and KMI+ was fined £333,000. An order of prosecution costs was made to the EA in the sum of £19,090 for United Utilities and £26,172 for KMI+.
Waste operator jailed following conviction for £2.2 million electrical waste recycling fraud
A Leeds waste operator has been jailed after he was convicted of conspiracy to defraud, acting as a company director while disqualified and breaching an environmental permitting condition.
The court heard that Terence Tugbo had falsified paperwork to claim that his company, TLC Recycling Ltd, had collected and recycled more than 19,500 tonnes of household electrical waste during 2011. The company had not recycled this waste and had fraudulently claimed recycling fees from Producer Compliance Schemes.
The court also heard that company had illegally been treated CFC gas cylinders at its site. This was not authorised under the site’s permit.
Dugbo has previous convictions for fraud and illegally exporting banned hazardous waste to Nigeria.
Dugbo was sentenced to seven years and six months' imprisonment. He was also disqualified from acting as a company director for 12 years.
The Judge also initiated the Environment Agency’s request to commence confiscation proceedings for £2.2 million.
Severn Trent Water fined £426,000 following conviction for pollution
Severn Trent Water has been fined after repeated pollution incidents between May 2013 and April 2014 affected the Shire Brook on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
Severn Trent Water had failed to inspect and maintain its sewers which had become blocked and backed up. Sewage leaked as a result. Releases resulted in the formation of thick sewage sludge and solids on a hillside, with grey water and sewage fungus in the brook. Pools of sewage also formed at ground level.
In mitigation, the court heard that Severn Trent had undertaken swift and effective clean-up operations.
Severn Trent Water Ltd was fined £426,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £38,642.60 to the EA as well as a victim surcharge of £120.
