SEPA revokes Scotgen (Dumfries) Limited’s permit
SEPA has issued a notice of revocation to Scotgen (Dumfries) Limited, the operators of the Dargavel energy from waste plant, to remove their permit for the following reasons:
- Persistent non-compliance with the permit.
- Failure to comply with an enforcement notice.
- Failure to maintain financial provision and resources to comply with the requirements of the permit.
- Failure to recover energy with a high level of efficiency.
As well as revoking the permit, the revocation notice requires that certain steps are taken to avoid pollution and to return the site to a satisfactory state. This includes a requirement for the waste to be removed.
The Revocation Notice can be withdrawn before it comes into effect (23 September 2013) and Scotgen (Dumfries) Limited is entitled to appeal to the Scottish Ministers against the Notice. If there is an appeal the revocation notice would be set aside until the appeal had been determined. This would mean that the plant could carry on operating until the Scottish Ministers make a decision.
SEPA's Technical Support Manager said:
"Since the plant came into operation we have provided support and assistance to Scotgen (Dumfries) Limited including affording them considerable time and opportunity to demonstrate that this facility can meet the Best Available Techniques, and the specific requirements of European Directives designed to protect the environment. Unfortunately despite this, they have not done so.
The facility started operations more than four years ago, and in that time has never achieved a level of compliance which would give SEPA any degree of confidence that future operation would be any different. The facility has consistently failed to meet any reasonable expectation of environmental performance and the predicted level of energy recovery at approximately 3% is particularly disappointing and unsatisfactory.
SEPA has taken this serious and unusual action of revoking the permit following careful consideration and assessment of the regulatory options available."
Illegal waste operator and company fined £25,000 for illegally dumping waste at a farm near Windsor
Southern Water has been fined £200,000 after discharging raw sewage into the sea, the Environment Agency has said.
Defective pumps at Margate pumping station in Kent led to several discharges of untreated sewage between January and June 2011. The repeated failure of the pumps meant Southern Water was unable to pump the sewage to Weatherlees Works for treatment, and instead discharged it into the sea off Margate.
Canterbury crown court heard that the firm, which serves Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, failed to tell the Environment Agency or the local food authority about the discharges.
Last month the company pleaded guilty to breaching its strict environmental permit and causing avoidable releases of untreated sewage to enter the sea, the agency said.
Andy Stamp, an environment officer at the agency, said: "We take these types of incidents very seriously and will do everything within our powers to safeguard the environment and people affected, and that includes bringing those who harm the environment to account for their actions."
Southern Water said it unreservedly apologised and had spent £1.7m addressing "complex engineering issues" at the pumping station that caused the problems. Another £400,000 was earmarked and plans for another pumping station were being drawn up. The firm said it had supported the local tourist industry with a series of promotional projects.
Geoff Loader, a Southern Water director, said that although the company had failed to operate within its environmental permit, Margate beaches continued to meet European quality standards.
"Importantly, the majority of beaches in the Margate area continue to have water quality sufficient to meet the blue flag standards and all meet European standards. Therefore, although we have breached our permit, we have not caused any deterioration in the water quality of Margate's beaches and, overall, our current treatment system has delivered improvements leading to blue flag water quality," he said.
"However, failures with our plant are not acceptable. We fully understand the importance of water quality to the reputation of Thanet as a leading tourist resort in the UK and we will always work to protect and enhance that."
Illegal waste operator and company fined for illegally dumping waste at a farm near Windsor.
Mr Mark Jones, 49, pleaded guilty to three offences of causing or permitting the unlawful deposit of waste on rented land surrounding his property at Brayfield Farm, Windsor. He was fined £5,000, ordered to pay costs of £4,793.84 and a Victim Surcharge of £120.
Simpson Environmental Services Limited pleaded guilty to three offences of unlawfully depositing waste on the land. The company was fined £20,000, ordered to pay costs of £4,793.84 and a Victim Surcharge of £120.
Mr Jones' operates a working farm shop. Mr Jones rented a further portion of surrounding land from an offshore company.
Simpson Environmental Services holds an Environmental Permit, regulated by the Environment Agency. The permit covers the operation of a waste transfer station in Slough, which is allowed to accept household, commercial and industrial wastes to be sorted and then removed from the site.
Between 2006 and 2011 Environment Agency officers visited the land Mr Jones rented surrounding his farm and found that an estimated total of 57,600 tonnes of waste soils had been brought onto it by Simpson Environmental Services and spread. During site visits Environment Agency officers told Jones and Simpson Environmental Services that permission from the Environment Agency was needed to continue bringing waste onto the site. This would impose controls on the activity to minimise its environmental impact. However, permission was never obtained.
The court heard that payments had been made by Simpson Environmental Services to Mr Jones for accepting the waste onto the rented land amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds. In sentencing, the Magistrates took into account the huge amounts of money involved.
an EA Environmental crime officer said: “Both Mr Jones and Simpson Environmental Services Limited had been told on a number of occasions that they were acting illegally by tipping waste materials on land designated for agriculture. In this case it occurred on land directly bordering the river Thames and in the immediate vicinity of the Olympic venue at Dorney and close to Windsor Castle.
Increasingly we are investigating the financial gains made by waste criminals where waste is being dumped unlawfully. We will continue to investigate illegal operators and bring them to court no matter how long it takes. Operating illegal waste sites is unacceptable and can have severe detrimental environmental impacts.
People who operate waste sites need to ensure they have an environmental permit in place to do so. In addition, skip operators who pick up skips containing controlled waste are under a statutory Duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to deliver the waste to a regulated site."
Toxic Bonfire Party
Piles of waste were stored and then burnt at an illegal site close to the Norfolk to London railway line in Suffolk. The man responsible was fined £28,000.
Firewood Merchant Ian Dale Garnham (44) illegally stockpiled waste and then set fire to it at The Woodyard in Diss, between 3 and 6 November 2012, resulting in the fire brigade being called to the site.
Mr Andrew Logan, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said a white plume of smoke that smelt noxious and toxic lingered over the site and blew across the nearby railway line.
Investigating officers found an ‘extensive area of the lower yard’ estimated to be 30-40 loads of waste, covered in smouldering waste that in some places was as high as 4 metres.
“The uncontrolled burning of waste is likely to have polluted the air and contaminated the ground and was, in part, financially motivated and he failed to take our advice,” Mr Logan told the court. He said items burnt in the fire included tyres. Tests showed that toxic fumes would have been emitted from the fire due to incomplete combustion.
“Concentrations of copper, lead and zinc in the ash were significantly higher than the background soil levels for England and Wales,” Mr Logan said.
Garnham told Environment Agency officers that he had held a bonfire party and 120 people attended, with the proceeds from the event going to charity. He also said that 90% of the waste burned was green waste which he had brought back to the yard for recycling.
After the hearing, Environment Officer Tom Pickover said: “There was no waste permit for this yard and burning waste is illegal. The effect of the fire was to release toxins into the air and the ground. Everyone who disposes of waste has a duty of care to ensure their waste is handled correctly.”
The bonfire was 116 metres long in diameter, and had a height of between 1 and 4 metres.
Garnham pleaded guilty to the following charge:
disposing of controlled waste by burning in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health.
Contrary to Section 33(1)(c) and 33(6) Environmental Protection Act 1990.
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