Mike
Dunning - 16-Oct-2008 - Avonmouth company,
Sevalco, was today ordered to pay £13,314
in fines and costs after the main oil delivery
pipe to its factory sprang a leak and polluted
a tributary of the River Severn. The case
was brought by the Environment Agency.
Sevalco make carbon
black – a chemical dye mainly used in the
manufacture of tyres. It is also used in
some plastic and liquid products. The raw
material, heavy oil, is delivered by tanker
to Avonmouth docks and pumped via a pipeline
to the Sevalco site at Chittening.
On February 2, 2008
the Agency was alerted after oil was discovered
in Stup Pill Rhine at Chittening. Oil was
visible along the whole length of the watercourse,
a distance of around 600 metres, and was
flowing out into the River Severn estuary
– a protected area of high conservation
value and Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI).
An Agency officer traced
the pollution to a concrete wall under a
road bridge where oil was trickling out
of a small pipe close to the Sevalco site.
She noticed an oily rainbow sheen on the
surface of the water.
Sevalco was alerted
and absorbent booms deployed to retain the
oil. Closer inspection revealed a brown
oil seeping from the bank of the rhine.
The leak was close to a section of underground
pipeline that ran under Chittening Road.
Part of the pipeline was excavated and oil
was seen collecting in a trench beneath
the pipe.
A court heard the four-mile
long pipeline was installed in 1951. All
the above ground sections had been replaced
in 2001. However, it was decided not to
replace two short underground sections after
they were pressure tested and found to be
in good condition.
With advice from the
Agency, Sevalco began removing oil from
the rhine and excavating contaminated soils.
By February 19, 2008 the company had emptied
the pipeline of oil and were continuing
to use absorbent booms to contain oil in
the rhine. However, on February 27, 2008,
Agency officers saw the containment booms
had become saturated and had failed. Oil
was again being carried down to the estuary.
Technical investigations
revealed a section of Sevalco’s underground
pipe had become corroded and oil had leaked
out of a series of small holes into the
surrounding ground before seeping into the
Stup Pil Rhine.
‘This was a potentially
serious pollution incident in which oil
escaped into the environment in a highly
sensitive area of international importance.
While Sevalco responded, it did not replace
absorbent booms with sufficient frequency
and this resulted in oil escaping down the
entire length of the rhine and into the
estuary on two occasions,’ said Simon Price
for the Environment Agency.
Sevalco Limited, of
Severn Road, Chittening, Bristol, was today
fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £5,314
costs by Bristol magistrates after pleading
guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or
polluting matter to enter controlled waters
contrary to Section 85(1) and (6) of the
Water Resources Act 1991.
In 2004, following another
Environment Agency prosecution, Sevalco
was fined £240,000 and ordered to
pay £70,000 costs after the company
falsified records for levels of cyanide
in effluent released into the Severn estuary.
It was prosecuted for failing to keep accurate
records and exceeding limits permitted under
its licence.
In 2005 the company
was given a formal caution by the Environment
Agency for the unauthorised release of carbon
black into the air.
+ More
Two Liverpool men banned
from fishing for two years
Martin Watkins - 13-Oct-2008
- Two men, who have a history of fishing
without a rod licence, have been banned
from fishing in Wales or England for two
years. They were among 10 offenders prosecuted
for fisheries offences by Environment Agency
Wales, in Chester Magistrates’ Court last
week (9 October).
Mark Challinor of Rose
Heath Drive, and Neil Morgan of Leathers
Lane, both of Halewood, Liverpool will also
have to pay over £700 in fines and
costs between them.
The ten men will have
to pay over £2,000 in fines and costs
between them. Eight had no rod licences
and two were fishing out of season.
Andy Schofield, Strategy
and Policy Manager, Environment Agency Wales
said:
We welcome the Magistrates’
decision to ban these individuals, given
that this was not the first time that they
had been caught fishing without a licence.
Illegal anglers are cheating all those fishermen
who do pay for their licences and cheating
the angling clubs and fishery owners who
invest a huge amount of time and money developing
fisheries for the benefit of us all.
“Our officers make regular
visits to fisheries and we will catch unlicensed
anglers. If you think you can get away with
not having a licence, think again. A full
annual licence to fish for coarse fish costs
£25 and a one day licence only £3.50
– is it really worth dodging paying this
amount?
“Fishing outside the
legal season and breaches of other Fishery
Byelaws will not be tolerated. These rules
are there to protect the fish stocks. We
urge other anglers and members of the public
to report illegal fishing to us on 0800
80 70 60.”
Any angler aged 12 years
or more who fishes any water in England
and Wales is required to hold a valid rod
licence. Licences are available from every
Post Office, on-line from the Environment
Agency at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fish
or by calling the Agency’s ticket ‘telesales’
on 0870 166 2662.
+ More
Sand and Gravel company
fined for Romford Silt Pollution
Rachael Collins - 13-Oct-2008
- Havering Magistrates’ Court has fined
Brett Lafarge Limited £12000 plus
£4114 costs for an offence contrary
to section 85 (1) of the Water Resources
Act 1991. Brett Lafarge Limited pleaded
guilty on 9 October 2008 to causing polluting
matter to enter controlled waters, namely
the Hog Hill Ditch and Seven Kings Water.
Brett Lafarge Limited
operates a gravel quarry at Fairlop Quarry,
Hainault Road, Little Heath, near Romford
in Essex. Hog Hill Ditch is a tributary
of Seven Kings Water, which joins the Seven
Kings at Fairlop Quarry. As part of the
quarrying process silt is produced which
is piped to a silt lagoon. The pipe runs
adjacent to Hog Hill Ditch.
On 13 November 2007,
an Environment Agency officer on a routine
visit to Fairlop Quarry saw that silt had
entered Seven Kings Water and traced this
upstream to Hog Hill Ditch. The silt had
escaped from a worn coupling on the silt
pipe which had not been checked by the company.
It had found a route down a rabbit hole
and had entered Hog Hill Ditch. It travelled
the length of Hog Hill Ditch, and into Seven
Kings Water a distance of 1.5km.
The silt covered the
whole of the Hog Hill Ditch. It was over
a foot deep at the point of entry and at
the Hainault road bridge it was approximately
eight inches thick. Although silt is inert,
it is a pollutant, as it clogs gills of
fish and smothers the bed, affecting invertebrates
and leading to asphyxiation. An ecological
survey showed that ecological life in Hog
Hill Ditch had been detrimentally affected
but that in Seven Kings Water it had not.
The company admitted
in interview that the silt escape had been
discovered on Saturday 10 November and the
damaged pipe coupling replaced. However,
they did not inform the Agency. They also
claimed that the site supervisor had taken
certain preventative measures to stop the
silt causing further damage but the Environment
Officer saw no evidence of this when she
visited. The removal of silt and clean-up
operation only began after the officer discovered
the pollution and took approximately four
weeks to conclude.
Environment Officer
Elaine Campbell says: “Brett Lafarge is
a repeat offender with regards to silt pollution
of our watercourses. We hope that they will
learn from their previous mistakes and in
future put in place effective and timely
prevention measures."
+ More
Anglers' illegal fishing
Stuart Brennan - 15-Oct-2008
- Eight anglers from Bradford and Bingley
have been fined in Bradford Magistrates
Court for fishing illegally in West Yorkshire.
Environment Agency fisheries
enforcement officers use intelligence gathered
from previous operations to target angling
hot-spots and areas with higher than average
rod licence evasion rates.
Bailiffs also carried
out river patrols during the coarse fishing
close season, which runs from 15th March
to 15th June inclusive in order protect
fisheries from the impacts of angling during
the breeding season.
• Kelvin Turner of Oakwood
Drive, Bingley was found guilty in his absence
of fishing without a valid licence at Cottingley
Manor Pond in Bingley. He was fined £220,
ordered to pay costs of £75 and the
victim surcharge of £15.
• Carl Hartley of Rimswell
Holt, Bradford, pleaded guilty to fishing
without a valid licence on the Leeds Liverpool
Canal at Apperley Bridge, Bradford. He was
fined £110, ordered to pay costs of
£75 and the victim surcharge £15.
• Peter Brook of Oakroyd
Road, Wibsey in Bradford, was found guilty
in his absence of fishing without a valid
licence at Harold Park Lake, Bradford. He
was fined £220, ordered to pay costs
of £75 and the victim surcharge of
£15.
• Pawel Sobczak of Christopher
Terrace, Bradford, was found guilty in his
absence of fishing without a valid licence
on the Leeds Liverpool Canal in Shipley.
He was fined £220, ordered to pay
costs of £75 and the victim surcharge
of £15.
• Lee Taylor of Rimswell
Holt, Greengates in Bradford, pleaded guilty
to fishing without a valid licence on the
Leeds Liverpool Canal at Apperley Bridge
in Bradford. He was fined £160, ordered
to pay costs of £75 and the victim
surcharge of £15.
• Michael Nuttall of
Jardine Road, Bingley pleaded guilty to
preparing to fish without a valid rod licence
on the Leeds Liverpool Canal at Three Rise
Locks in Bingley. He was fined £155,
ordered to pay costs of £75 and the
victim surcharge of £15.
• Pavel Harsani of Harold
Street, Bingley, was found guilty in his
absence of fishing during the close season
on the River Aire at Stockbridge in Keighley,
and using illegal bait. He was fined £220
pounds for each offence, ordered to pay
costs of £75 and the victim surcharge
of £15.
• Frank Dean of Haigh
Corner, Bradford, pleaded guilty to fishing
without a valid licence on the Leeds Liverpool
Canal at Apperley Bridge in Bradford. He
was fined £105, ordered to pay costs
of £75 and the victim surcharge of
£15.
