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The article below from the Wakefield Express is a quick resume of the trial at Wakefield Crown Court, this does not tell you that it was one of the worst prosecution cases that RATS have ever heard. E.G. The Agency prosecution never mentioned the volume of diesel entering the river I.E 5 Kilometers long by 30 Metres wide by by 1/2 MM deep, this equals 75 000 Litres of Diesel Oil, but the 75 000 was never presented to the judge.
The costs had been agreed between WRG and the Environment Agency prior to the trial, showing that a deal had been struck before the court case opened, the judge reduced the fine due to WRG pleading guilty - but it is a bit difficult to deny that an oil slick of this size is coming from the tip compound, when it was seen running directly into the River Calder.
WRG admitted that they had done no maintenance work in this area for a number of years, but blamed the take over of the company 13 days earlier, for them not been aware of the drains existence! - even though the site management had not changed for a considerable number of years, indicating that it is cheaper to be fined than to do maintenance.
Welbeck landfill firm fined for slick
Published Date: 12 September 2008 By Charlie Bullough
The pollution came from a disused diesel tank at the Normanton-based site, which spilled into a drain that acted as a "super highway" to the water.
Environment Agency officers investigated the leak early on February 13 and noticed the whole of the river covered in a thin layer of oil, Wakefield magistrates were told.
There were also rainbow-coloured patches on the surface of the water and the oil had a red tinge to it, suggesting it was red diesel.
Pumping began to remove the slick, and continued all night.
One tanker was filled with around 20,000 litres of oil and water.
And five days after the leak was spotted, on February 18 – there was no sign of oil on the water.
Examination of the company's pollution prevention control application did not show the drain as did earlier documents.
Solicitor Paul Sheridan, mitigating for the company, said there was no evidence of birds or fish being affected.
He added: "In the six months since the incident there has not been a single suggestion of any actual harm – leaving aside flora and fauna – to either human health, the amenity of the river or other lawful users of the river, or the water in the river."
He said it was an isolated incident and the company had not benefited from the spill.
They had spent or budgeted for £171,380 to correct and investigate the problem.
Mr Sheridan said the company had changed management several times over the years and was unaware of the drain's existence.
Magistrate Julian Garthwaite fined WWM £11,700 with £5,170.93 costs, plus victims' surcharge of £15.
Speaking after the hearing, Paul Dainton, president of protest group Residents Against Toxic Scheme, said: "The only people to suffer are the local people and their environment."
Source: Wakefield Express City
A recent letter to the Wakefield Express.
Agency Gives Us No Value.
It is time that the government was taken to task about the decisions made by their eminent organisation the Environment Agency.
Each time a major polluter damages our environment and the Environment Agency get involved, nothing happens.
How many millions of pounds do we the ratepayers, have to pay to keep this organisation in existence?
We are not getting any value for money.
We are not getting actions made on our behalf.
What we do get is pathetic excuse after pathetic excuse!
We are told that the National Audit Office is the vehicle to use when we are unhappy with a government organisation.
The question I ask is whether there is anyone actually listening at the NAO?
It seems that the Environment Agency is frightened to upset the waste industry - you only have lo look at what's happening down at the Welbeck Toxic tip to see fiasco after fiasco brushed under the carpet.
When will the government and the NAO wake up and do something?
And what is Wakefield Council doing about it? Absolutely nothing.
How much revenue has it allowed to escape into the atmosphere instead of imposing the contract to be paid a percentage of all income derived from a gas utilisation plant?
What they do instead is hike up our council taxes further.
I used to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I don't believe in these organisations anymore.
Brian Kitchen Rose Farm Approach.
Work was due to start on the gas plant back in 2003, but it will now begin in the late summer of this year. Council bosses said earlier this month they were 'very disappointed' at the delay.
A cut of the profits from the site will go to the council under a profit-sharing agreement and will help reduce costs of services, including waste disposal.
The delay meant natural gas from thousands of tonnes of household waste at the site was being wasted by being 'flared off' into the atmosphere.
Now site operator Welbeck Waste Management Ltd (WWML) has confirmed the plant will be built by 2009, but could not confirm when it will be up to its full eight-megawatt capacity.
A spokesman said maximum capacity would be reached following a 'phased programme'.
A clause in the site permit says the plant must be operational in 2009, but requires only one of its six gas-burning engines to be in place at that time.
Government watchdog The Environment Agency said it would take six engines to burn off all the gas produced at the site.
Paul Dainton, president of action group Residents Against Toxic Scheme (RATS), said: "It is appalling that they will be fully legally compliant by just building one gas engine. This is too little, too late and they will still be able to flare off the majority of the gas."
01 August 2008
Protests on the letters page of the
Wakefield Express.
People have started to voice their anger and concerns over the fiasco we call
" The Welbeck Toxic Tip "
and to the pitiful support given by the Environment Agency.
"Give Away the Tip license". Letter.
"Dreadful Waste of Gas". Letter.
Tip Owners Escape Prosecution. News Story.
Delay Means Tip Gas Being Wasted. News Story.
Focus on Landfill Breaches. News Story.
The following letter has had to be sent to Wakefield Metropolitan District Council WMDC, as you can see copies of this letter have been sent to 4 other parties to avoid them from playing games and blaming each other.
Of course now they cannot use the excuse that they were not aware or had been informed.
Please read the following:-
This letter has been sent to all members of the Welbeck Liaison committee.
Letter in Word format. Letter in PDF format.
The Labour Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire (Linda MacAvan) is investigating the Diesel spill into the river Calder, the following brief letter shows she is dealing with this matter directly.
Wakefield Express Monday 3rd March 2008.
Representatives from Residents Against Toxic Schemes (RATS) met with Hilary Benn, secretary of state for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Normanton MP Ed Balls and officials from the Environment Agency in London on Tuesday, to discuss their concerns about the site.
On Thursday 14th February 2008, RATS were informed by 2 residents of Normanton that a major incident was taking place at the Welbeck Toxic Tip.
Both officers of the Environment Agency and Wakefield Metropolitan District Council have been present at the tip for over two days.
Diesel fuel stored on site for use by the Welbeck Toxic Tip vehicles has leaked into and polluted/contaminated the river Calder.
The chemical odour of diesel can be smelled all along the river Calder and can even be detected as far down river as Castleford.
RATS have received reports of numerous dead fish seen floating in the river Calder.
Once again a major catastrophe has happened on our doorstep and both the Environment Agency and WMDC have not warned anybody of the dangers or even advised the public to take care.
When will the authorities wake up and stop protecting a major polluter of the environment and now it seems a major polluter of the river Calder.
Wildlife has been abundant on the banks and waterway of the river Calder, you could find Kingfishers, Mallards, Great Crested Grebes, Goose Ganders and Dragon Flies.
The river was so clean that large breeding stocks of Roach, Perch, Chub, Pike,Sticklebacks and Gudgeon could be seen on a regular basis, the river was running so clean that Brown Trout could be found in the river on a regular basis. Some freshwater anglers have reported seeing solitary Salmon as well.
2 weeks ago in the Wakefield Express WRG PLC stated that they (WRG PLC) took particular care and attention of the environment.
No doubt WRG PLC will come up with some stupid remark/comment and will blame the whole incident on dead fish floating down from Grimsby, and the escaped diesel oil will be blamed on a passing submarine.
They always have excuses.
RATS now demand a full and immediate investigation into this situation.
The authorities have been informed time and time again of the many breaches of Site License and PPC conditions, and yet they still defend WRG PLC.
Inaction is as damning as ineffective action.
- What do you intend to do now?
- How many times are you going to do nothing?
- When are you going to start protecting the Environment?
- Will a full environmental damage assessment be made?
- Will the results be made public?
Inaction is as damning as ineffective action.
- When are you going to start protecting the residents of Wakefield?
- Why were the public not told of this catastrophe?
- Would you have told us or when would you have told us?
- How many fish have died?
- Will WRG PLC be prosecuted?
- Will WRG PLC be made to rectify our damaged environment?
It is now time you had an open and honest dialogue with RATS.
Enough is Enough.
Photographs.
The spill originated somewhere in the compound above, and drains guided the spilled diesel into drainage channels and eventually into the river Calder.
The cordoned off area is just above the discharge channel into the river Calder, earth has been built into dyke's to try and stem the flow of diesel, holding it back whilst the diesel is pumped back up the hill into a waiting tanker. You can clearly see the white pipe - the tanker is just off screen to the left.
In these two photographs you can see some of the measures taken to clean up the diesel spill, the white floating mats are proprietary materials used to soak oil and diesel - they repel water (Hydrophobic Pads).
The tubular material in a half ring is a floating boom designed to stop the flow of oil on the surface of water.
The next three pictures (shown above) were more difficult to take, they show evidence of a floating scum of diesel in the river Calder, this sort of picture is very hard to take.
These coloured sheens of diesel were taken on the opposite bank from the Welbeck Toxic Tip, and were taken some days after the diesel spill took place.
The last three photographs were taken the following day, at least the weather was brighter. The boom is still in place - so are the square absorbent pads.
These pads are disposable pads and do not last forever - they require changing and looking at the photographs, this has not happened - same colour, same position and same pads in the water.
There is a second drainage gully a little bit down stream (bottom photograph) - was this drainage channel monitored or even checked - was it clear from diesel? - is it still clear from diesel?
According to documents Welbeck Toxic Tip has been operational/running from 19th November 1999.
That means they received toxic waste from that date until 2005, and they have received household waste from 2005, the only monitoring of the waste tipped onto the site is by the site operator who levels the waste, but by then it is too late.
This means that there have been
of poorly controlled/monitoring of goodness knows what entering the site !
WORDSEARCH.
You can either play interactively on line or if you want there is printable PDF version.
Online version easy. PDF version easy.
Online version hard. PDF version Hard.
A local resident and supporter of RATS forwarded a copy of this email for inclusion on this page, you can read a transcript of that here, certain details have been removed for privacy issues, though the content of the email has not been altered.
The email makes very interesting reading - though by the end of the email I was left with more questions than answers.
This email is essentially a rewording of an article which appeared in the Wakefield Express on 25th January 2008.
Would the Environment Agency like to clarify/answer or comment on the following.
01. If you have ongoing concerns over Welbeck Toxic Tip gas management, when will you do something about it, you have known of this danger for over a year and despite 4 reports you prevaricate and do nothing.
02. When will your investigation be completed and will the public be made aware of your findings - including dates, timescales and who will be responsible for any actions.
03. Will this report be issued into the public domain, or will it be withheld / hidden.
04. Who at the Agency is responsible for creating/issuing/controlling the report.
05. Don't tell people what might happen, inform then what has happened, including facts from the damning reports (facts not promises).
06. How long will the secondary flare stack be in operation, is it intended to replace the promised gas power plant on a permanent basis.
07. Have you seen proof of an application to the Environment Agency stating what WRG PLC intend to do and the time scales involved. (Factual not promissory)
08. Have WMDC planning department received a planning/request from WRG PLC. (Factual not feasibility).
09. Is burning the gas flare off in an uncortrolled/unrecorded manner the Environment Agencies preferred method of control, we should be promoting the best practice in this type of location, with the onset of uncontrolled global warming we should be doing the most we can, not the minimum.
10. In this case does "most effective" mean the least expensive. Bear in mind the promises given to get the license in the first place and the promises given to the press to relieve public concerns and fears.
11. You say that trace gasses are in the region of 0.1% to 0.35%, if these gases can be detected they are dangerous. By minimising the danger of trace gasses danger of trace gasses like this this, you have sanitised the threat. We have reports and many many press articles reporting an increase of birth defects just by living in close proximity to a waste site. Remember this site is a toxic Waste site, toxic materials could not be tipped on this site after 2005 but prior to that you could tip noxious toxic materials.
12. Your statement that Methane is not a toxic gas is correct, but you have been conservative with the truth, what you don't say is that Methane is an asphyxiant, its danger is in being a colourless, odourless gas and is not easily detectable.
Methane is a relative potent green ho use gas with a high global warming potential, it warms the earth 25 times faster than the same mass of CO2.
Methane is a highly flammable gas, and has been known to penetrate buildings in the proximity of landfill sites - so dangerous is this problem that special recovery systems are used to vent collected Methane into the atmosphere.
13. Carbon dioxide, the other major component of landfill gas which you failed to mention in any detail, it is an asphyxiating gas and causes adverse health effects at relatively low concentrations.
14. Yes methane gas is non toxic, but both Methane and CO2 are classed as asphyxiant's and both are viewed as global warming gasses with both gasses been present in an approximate 50/50 mixture they are dangerous to the residents who live close to the tip in and places them in greater danger, have the Environment Agency monitored or checked the the properties of residents who live closeto Welbeck.Inforrmation used has been taken from the Wikipedia online encyclopedia.
Information on Methane can be found at Wikipedia Methane Gas.
Information on CO2 can be found at Wikipedia CO2 Gas.
Information on Landfill Gas can be found at Wikipedia Landfill Gas.
Information on Landfill Gas monitoring Wikipedia monitoring.
Information on Landfill Management Wikipedia Management.Disposing of waste in a landfill involves burying waste to dispose of it, and this remains a common practice in most countries. Historically, landfills were often established in disused quarries, mining voids or borrow pits. A properly-designed and well-managed landfill can be a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of disposing of waste materials. Older, poorly-designed or poorly-managed landfills can create a number of adverse environmental impacts such as wind-blown litter, attraction of vermin, and generation of liquid leachate. Source Wikipedia.
Residents Against Toxic Scheme RATS can be contacted by email at
RATS received the following letters from Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.
The letter addresses concerns that RATS have raised over Fencing and Security arrangements, whilst the letter instructs Waste Recycling Group to undertake corrective action over some small issues, at this time not all actions have been completed/started.
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council have to be applauded for the stance they have taken over these cosmetic problems, BUT, there are many more pressing and urgent problems at the Welbeck Toxic Tip, 4 current problems that spring to mind are :-
1. The vast amount of greenhouse gas emissions emitted by Welbeck Toxic Tip - identified in reports by the Environment Agency.
2. Where is the power generation/gas usage plant, when will it be built and when will it be operational.
3. The uncontrolled waste allowed to enter the river Calder, highlighted by dangerous accumulations against the canal bridge during flood conditions, a fact denied by WRG and ignored by the Environment Agency and others.
4. The dangerous erosion and bank collapses at both sides of the Bow Spring Bridge, including the ominous slab of concrete slipping towards the river Calder.
Ignoring the problem will not make it go away, rhetoric and glib comments do nothing to correct the situation. The problem is here NOW - something must be done NOW .
RATS also received the following letter from the Environment Agency from Mr Gillett.
Environment Agency Letter Word. Environment Agency Letter PDF,
14 months after the discovery of illegal gas releases from Welbeck Toxic Tip, including 4 further reports, all confirming illegal gas emissions. The Environmental Agency still have not made a decision on whether to prosecute.
It is RATS belief that the Environmental Agency will not under any circumstance prosecute Welbeck Waste Management.
An American firm of attorneys and councillors at law have mentioned RATS difficulties with Welbeck Toxic Tip, and quoting from their web page:-
"The release of the gas violates the landfills site permit, and the plan to install a generator designed to recycle the gas into electricity appears stalled".
The full web site can be found here.
In the Wakefield Express on 28th December 2007 the following article appeared.
"Fury At Landfill Gas Emissions"
Quote from a rate payer in Wakefield.
" Are WRG Full Of Gas And Broken Promises."
The following report appeared in the Yorkshire Evening Post on Monday 3rd April 2006. (That was nearly 29 months ago).
I have been unable to provide a link to view the article direct. The article has been re-produced without alteration, the original printed article is held by RATS for viewing.
The poor quality image is a direct scan from the front page of the Yorkshire Post Newspaper.
Minister Discusses Welbeck.Wakefield Express Monday 3rd March 2008.
Representatives from Residents Against Toxic Schemes (RATS) met with Hilary Benn, secretary of state for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Normanton MP Ed Balls and officials from the Environment Agency in London on Tuesday, to discuss their concerns about the site.
A local resident and supporter of RATS forwarded a copy of this email for inclusion on this page, you can read a transcript of that here, certain details have been removed for privacy issues, though the content of the email has not been altered.
This email makes very interesting reading - though by the end of the email I was left with more questions than answers.
This email is essentially a rewording of an article which appeared in the Wakefield Express on 25th January 2008.
Residents Against Toxic Scheme RATS can be contacted by email at
RATS received the following letter from Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.
The letter addresses concerns that RATS have raised over Fencing and Security arrangements, whilst the letter instructs Waste Recycling Group to undertake corrective action over some small issues, at this time not all actions have been completed/started.
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council have to be applauded for the stance they have taken over these cosmetic problems, BUT, there are many more pressing and urgent problems at the Welbeck Toxic Tip, 4 current problems that spring to mind are :-
1. The vast amount of greenhouse gas emissions emitted by Welbeck Toxic Tip - identified in reports by the Environment Agency.
2 Where is the power generation/gas usage plant, when will it be built and when will it be operational.
3. The uncontrolled waste allowed to enter the river Calder, highlighted by dangerous accumulations against the canal bridge during flood conditions, a fact denied by WRG and ignored by the Environment Agency and others.
4. The dangerous erosion and bank collapses at both sides of the Bow Spring Bridge, including the ominous slab of concrete slipping towards the river Calder.
Ignoring the problem will not make it go away, rhetoric and glib comments do nothing to correct the situation. The problem is here NOW - something must be done NOW.
Environment Agency Letter Word Format.
14 months after the discovery of illegal gas releases from Welbeck Toxic Tip, including 4 further reports, all confirming illegal gas emissions. The Environmental Agency still have not made a decision on whether to prosecute.
It is RATS belief that the Environmental Agency will not under any circumstance prosecute Welbeck Waste Management.
"The release of the gas violates the landfills site permit, and the plan to install a generator designed to recycle the gas into electricity appears stalled".
The full web site can be found here.
"Fury At Landfill Gas Emissions"
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