Company director given community payback order for environmental crime
Gary Doonin, the director of Doonin Plant Limited, has been sentenced to a community payback order of 250 hours after being found guilty in 2012 of keeping hundreds of tonnes of controlled waste at a site within the former Woodend Colliery near Armadale in West Lothian - one of the most significant environmental crimes in Scotland.
Mr Doonin and his company Doonin Plant Limited were both found guilty in September 2012 of keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health and of keeping waste otherwise than in accordance with a Waste Management Licence (WML). The charge resulted in a record fine of £200,000 for the company, Doonin Plant Limited.
The sentence handed down today will require Mr Doonin to undertake the 250 hours of community payback within one year.
Commenting on the sentencing, Chris Dailly, Reporting Officer for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said:
Mr Doonin and his company, Doonin Plant Limited, demonstrated a complete lack of consideration for the environment by carrying out such activities and their conviction and sentence should send a message to any operators acting outside of the law.
“SEPA has worked closely with our colleagues at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to see this complex case reach a positive conclusion and will continue to do so to bring those who commit environmental crimes to justice."
Businessman fined £6,000 for pollution offences
Mr Robert Martin Hamilton, Ballyrainey Road, Comber, was fined for making polluting discharges to a waterway.
On 21 August 2013 Water Quality Inspectors acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) inspected the Enler River at its confluence with the Ballystockart River and observed that the Enler River was very cloudy and grey in colour. The Inspectors traced the source of the pollution to premises owned by Robert Martin Hamilton. A discharge of vegetable processing waste water was observed flowing across a field and into the adjacent waterway.
On 11 December 2013 a Water Quality Inspector acting on behalf of NIEA observed a brown discharge from an unnamed tributary entering the Enler River. The discolouration was traced upstream for approximately 1 kilometre to premises owned by Mr Hamilton. It was observed that the waterway above these premises was clear.
On 10 March 2014 a Water Quality Inspector acting on behalf of NIEA again observed that the Enler River at its confluence with the Ballystockart River was grossly polluted. The source of the pollution was again traced to premises owned by Mr Hamilton.
Samples taken at the time of the incidents confirmed that the discharges contained high Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Ammonia and Suspended Solids content. At the incident in August 2013 there were in excess of 5,000 fish killed at an estimated restocking cost of £7,918.06. Mr Hamilton has agreed to reimburse this cost.
Mr Hamilton was charged under Article 7 (1) (a) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, and fined £2,000 for each of the dates above, with the offence of making a polluting discharge to a waterway.
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