New publications this month:
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Using MCERTS for the chemical testing of soil
Guidance concerns the provision of chemical testing data for potentially contaminated soil or landspreading subject to the environmental permitting regime.
New and Extended Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs)
SCOTTISH ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (SEPA) AND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DAERA)
Updated Guidance for Pollution Prevention (GPP) Documents
The following documents were updated during May 2021:
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)
Nature for people, climate and wildlife
This publication states a series of actions in England to protect valued habitats and species on land. This includes the following action plans and guidance:
Supporting guidance outlines what conservation translocations and species reintroductions are.
HM REVENUE AND CUSTOMS (HMRC)
Get your business ready for the Plastic Packaging Tax
Guidance is provided on action necessary to prepare for the plastic packaging tax, which will apply to businesses that manufacture or import 10 or more tonnes of plastic packaging annually. This tax will come into effect on 1 April 2022.
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY (BEIS)
UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) markets
This document supports the introduction of markets and auctioning under the UK ETS, which began on 1 January 2021.
UK ETS Allocation Table for operators of installations
Details of UK ETS allowance allocations for the 2021 to 2025 allocation period have been published.
Carbon budgets
Details of the UK’s sixth carbon budget, which will run between 2033 and 2037, have been published.
Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) supply chains: a roadmap to maximise the UK’s potential
This document sets out how government and industry can work to establish a UK CCUS supply chain.
A supporting document provides details of the design of the CCS Infrastructure Fund. Further guidance concerns the CCUS cluster sequencing process for phase 1 of the initiative.
Operator of Norfolk garage fined for storing waste illegally
A man has been fined after admitting he stored end-of-life motor vehicles and car parts illegally.
The Environment Agency first visited the site near Dereham in November 2019. Advice was given on the safe and legal storage of waste and a timescale was given to clear the site. However, subsequent visits to the site found that the man had continued to stockpile scrap vehicles over a 14-month period, despite four extensions to the clearance deadline. By carrying out this illegal operation he caused a serious risk to the public and the environment.
Many of the vehicles and engines at the site contained fuel, brake and clutch fluid, batteries and tyres with a significant risk of fire and explosion. Site inspections found oils and fuel on the open ground with the risk of contamination to ground and surface water.
Breaches
The man pleaded guilty to operating a regulated facility, namely a waste operation for the deposit, treatment and storage of waste, except under and to the extent authorised by an environmental permit contrary to Regulations 12 and Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.
Thames water receives £4 million fine after polluting chalk stream and park
Thames Water has been fined after untreated sewage escaped from sewers below London into a park and a river.
Thames Water’s sewage treatment works at Surbiton couldn’t handle the amount of sewage produced by Storm Imogen in the winter of 2016. The court heard dozens of high-priority alarms would have told staff about the incident, but were either missed or ignored, leading to pollution of a popular park, woodland and the Hogsmill River in New Malden.
During the storm, instead of the sewage being treated the pumps failed. This allowed raw effluent to back up along the sewer network and bursting out of a manhole. Sewage lost covered an area the size of three football pitches.
Approximately 79 million litres of sludge escaped across an area of about 6,500 square metres. It took 30 people a day for almost a month to clean-up sludge. The sludge was ankle-deep in places. The sewage travelled with such force across the park and into the river, leaving thick sludge, toilet paper and wet wipes covering the riverbank, grass, shrubs and a wooded area. Enough toilet paper to fill 2,500 refuse bags was recovered from the scene. The park was closed for a month during the clean-up, although some of the toilet paper swept along by the sewage was still visible in the woods months later.
An Environment Agency investigation found that things had begun to go wrong at the treatment plant just after midnight on 8 February 2016. A power failure triggered alarms after pumps used in the treatment of sewage stopped working. The malfunction should have been answered remotely by Thames Water staff and an engineer sent immediately to the treatment works, which is unmanned at night. Although almost 50 warning alarms were set off over the next 5 hours, every one was left unchecked.
It took Thames Water 15 hours to report the incident to the Environment Agency, a legal requirement, and another 12 hours before the company had any sizeable presence at the scene.
An Environment Agency investigator found a thick layer of sewage charting a course across the park and into the Hogsmill River. The water’s fast flow had flushed away any evidence before his arrival.
The Hogsmill, and the almost-continuous green corridor through which it passes, is much-loved by local people as a crucial habitat for fish and wildlife as diverse as bats, water voles and kingfishers. A local community garden is watered from the chalk stream.
Thames Water was charged under Regulations 33 (1)(a) and 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Regulations 12(1)(b), 38(1)(a) and 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.
Penalty
Thames Water was fined £4 million and ordered to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £84,669.
Man fined for obstructing Environment Agency officers
A man from Gateshead has been fined for depositing waste without a permit and obstructing Environment Agency officers. The officers had been attempting to inspect a site in Gateshead, which was suspected to be used for illegal waste management.
On 23 October 2020 the two officers attended the site and found the man tipping waste wood. The man confronted the officers and swore at them, forcing them to leave.
The court found the illegal deposit to have been reckless, as the man had mistakenly thought he was allowed to provide the wood waste to the land owner.
The man was fined £368 for the offences and ordered to pay £437 in costs.
