SHELL is facing the threat of prosecution by the National Rivers
Authority over the oil slick polluting the River Mersey, it was
disclosed yesterday.
The National Rivers Authority said it had told Shell action was being
considered under the Control of Pollution Act of 1974.
The company has been given 14 days to provide details of the incident
before a final decision is made on possible court moves, said a
spokesman.
Shell's acting manufacturing manager at the Stanlow refinery, Mr Ted
Jenkins, said: ''We are never very comfortable when this sort of thing
happens, as you can imagine.''
The slick of 150 tons of oil, which leaked from a fractured pipeline
carrying crude 12 miles from Tranmere oil terminal, Birkenhead, to
Shell's Stanlow refinery near Ellesmere Port, was yesterday largely
broken up by emergency crews.
However Cheshire County Council's environment chief Mr Derek Bateman
said the company reacted too slowly to the environmental disaster, which
the RSPB warned could be catastrophic for wildlife.
Mr Bateman said: ''It has taken two days for them to assemble the
right people to give the proper advice.''
And he claimed it had taken the oil giant until Sunday night to
release vital equipment to help clean up the 15-mile slick.
''Even if we manage to clear up the river now without further damage
this has put back the river clean-up programme by 20 years overnight,''
he said.
Animal rescue organisations began receiving dozens of oil-coated birds
yesterday.
The RSPB called the spill potentially catastrophic as up to 100,000
wading birds use the Mersey as their winter feeding ground.
RSPB coastal policy officer Mr Philip Rothwell said: ''The Mersey
estuary is part of a network of sites, stretching from Russia and
Northern Canada to Africa, essential to the survival of millions of wild
birds on their migration.
''The implications for bird populations go far beyond our shores and
could last many months, if not years.''
Environment Minister David Hunt held talks with Government officials
and afterwards said he would ensure that Merseyside emergency workers
get ''all the resources and equipment required both at present and as
the clean-up operation continues''.
He said: ''The Department of Energy have informed me that an
investigation into the incident is being carried out by their oil
pipelines inspectorate.''
Environment experts and fire officers from Merseyside and Cheshire
flew over the Mersey by helicopter checking the full extent of the
pollution from Saturday's leak.
Thick, tarry deposits were coating large areas of both banks as far
inland as Warrington and a small army of council workers was busy with a
''bucket and spade'' operation to clear it up.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article