Sites at Scotland’s fossil fuel hubs Mossmorran and Grangemouth have had ‘very poor’ compliance with environmental regulations, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
In its report for 2019 license compliance, the waste and industry team at SEPA reported a decline in chemical compliance at the Fife Ethylene Plant at Mossmorran, while Grangemouth’s Kinneil Terminal site has consistently been poor.
Scottish Greens environment spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: “This new report shows that in 2019, when there were clear public concerns about Scotland’s biggest fossil fuel polluters and their impact on local communities, that these companies were not taking their environmental responsibilities seriously.
“While SEPA note promises made by Exxonmobil and Ineos to improve things, the fact that these poor compliance reports come after years of similar results at these sites suggest the operators are not treating this with the urgency they should.”
However, wider Scottish business environmental compliance came in at more than 90% for the fifth year in a row, according to the environmental regulator's latest data.
It showed that 91% of Scottish regulated business sites were assessed as compliant (‘Excellent’, ‘Good’ or ‘Broadly Compliant’) in 2019, while 78.2% of Scottish regulated sites (almost 4,000 sites) were rated as excellent – the fifth year where over 75% of all sites were rated as excellent.
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
|
Excellent |
4,247 |
4,030 |
3,904 |
3,905 |
3,848 |
Good |
639 |
761 |
619 |
686 |
593 |
Broadly Compliant |
61 |
78 |
43 |
43 |
39 |
At Risk |
142 |
119 |
141 |
156 |
155 |
Poor |
307 |
262 |
272 |
282 |
246 |
Very Poor |
74 |
59 |
40 |
51 |
43 |
Total assessed |
5,470 |
5,309 |
5,019 |
5,123 |
4,924 |
Overall performance |
90.4% |
91.7% |
91.0% |
90.5% |
91.0 % |
Jo Green, acting chief executive of SEPA, said: “The environmental compliance of Scottish business really matters, as does the visibility of performance data - that’s why today we’re publishing the latest compliance assessment data recovered following a December 2020 cyber attack by international serious and organised criminals.
“Whilst draft data was stolen, illegally published on the dark web, and subject to media reporting in October 2021, it’s important we published final data in line with our recovery strategy.
“Here we’re pleased that for the fifth year in a row, nine out of ten Scottish businesses did the right thing by Scotland’s environment and that over seven out of ten achieved our top billing.”
Green added that a regulatory report for 20/21 will be published in 2022 covering regulatory positions, permitting, monitoring, compliance and enforcement, with a commitment to consulting on a new, publicly-accessible compliance assessment approach in this year.
“We remain clear that compliance with Scotland’s environmental regulations is non-negotiable, and committed to driving performance and to publicly demonstrating the progress of Scottish business.”
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