The Stanlow oil refinery has been accused of a series of major pollution spills after investigative journalists obtained documents that described the incidents, reports the BBC.
The documents described breaches from the site in Ellesmere Port, Chesire, with toxic chemicals and oil regularly released into the waterways an groundwater between 2023 and 2024.
The Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed that is investigating the breaches.
EET Fuels, formerly known as Essar, runs the refinery and have previously pleaded guilty this year to we charges of breaching environmental law between 2018 and 2020.
The Stanlow refinery is one of four remaining sites in the UK and processes 10 million tonnes of crude oil each year, producing around 18% of the country’s vehicle fuel.
EET holds a permit to operate on the site, which means it can discharge controlled amounts of oil into the air and waterways but must still make an effort to reduce pollution.
However, the EA’s reports show that between 2023 and 224 the permitted levels for chemical releases were exceeded hundreds of times.
In response to the accusation, EET said: “Stanlow takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously. Selectively chosen, historical permit exceedances from prior years in no way represent the current operational status, improving environmental performance, or governance of the refinery today.”
The documents also detail how pollutants like sulphur dioxide were released into the air at seven times permitted levels, cyanide into waterways like the Gowy at more than eight times permitted levels, and oil at more than thirteen times the allowed levels.
In one incident in July 2023, the company breached its permit after rainwater containing oil leaked from the site – the EA classed the event as “significant”.
EET Fuels told the BBC and investigative journalist group SourceMaterial, that the oil lost was on a “low scale” and “was strictly localised to two boreholes, all well within the Stanlow site itself”.
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