Whitegate Refinery in Cork Harbour is to be prosecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the District Court over an oil spillage last November, during which 31 tonnes of heavy fuel oil seeped into the harbour.
The area most affected by the seepage, which occurred through a faulty pipe as a tanker was being loaded, was Graball Bay. Because of its inaccessibility, however, clean-up teams found it particularly difficult to recover the oil from the beaches. The cost of the operation, which will be borne by the refinery and has now been completed, will be at least £1 million.
The EPA, in a report on the incident issued yesterday, said that there would be no long-term damage to the environment. The EPA said that when the company was making modifications to the pipeline, it did not adequately consider the possible effects on the integrity of the line; the inspection regime was not up to standard; and the spillage led to the deaths of some 1,500 birds - a figure considered to be a conservative estimate.
It recommended that the refinery be required to introduce a systematic inspection and preventative maintenance scheme, covering the entire pipeline system. The EPA has also told Whitegate that as part of an application for an integrated pollution licence to the agency, it must produce plans for secondary containment and automatic leak detection. The existing Oil Spill Contingency Plan must also be reviewed, the EPA said.
The District Court prosecution allows for a maximum fine of £1,000, and the company could also be ordered to pay the full legal costs.
The decision not to take the case to the High Court, where the maximum fine on conviction would be £25,000, was condemned by the Cork Environmental Alliance yesterday. Mr Derry Chambers, a spokesman for the alliance, said the oil spill could have been prevented.
He said that in its annual safety appraisal of the refinery, the Health and Safety Authority should have determined that the pipeline in use was faulty. The alliance also disputed the amount of oil spilled and said that from contacts in the oil industry, it believed the spill was more serious than the figure given by the company.
First estimates by the company suggested that the spillage was no more than three tonnes. As it became evident that the spill was far more damaging, this was raised to 31 tonnes.
The EPA said it had chosen not to bring the case to the High Court, which would have involved the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, because the company had already pledged to meet all the cleaning costs.
It said that contrary to a report published by the refinery, invertebrates were killed by the oil spillage and many others died in the clean-up operation. The number of mammals killed was put at two grey seals and one otter.