Community Anger Rising Over Flaring at ExxonMobil's Mossmorran Plant

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Representatives of ExxonMobilโ€™s Fife Ethylene Plant have apologised after unexpected flaring sentย black smoke high into the skies across Fife for most of the past week. But the community remains furious at what it sees as regulatory failure and corporate evasion fromย ExxonMobil.

The flare at the giant petrochemical plant at Mossmorran could be seen for miles โ€“ it was clearly visible across the Firth of Forth โ€“ and went on for six days. It is one year since the Mossmorran plant was hit by an unscheduled flaring after several incidents in 2017 and 2018 led to the plant owners receiving โ€œfinal warningsโ€ from the environmentalย agency.ย 

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) said it was aware of the unscheduled flaring. ExxonMobil issued a statement saying there was โ€œno danger to the local communitiesโ€ and added: โ€œFlaring is necessary following an interruption in our steam generatingย boilers.โ€

โ€œThe loss of steam resulted in the smoky flaring earlier this afternoon. Our team has resolved this and flaring is nowย clear.โ€

But Mossmorran Action Group today organised a protest at Fife House in Kirkcaldy urging councillors to put aside party political differences and support a motion calling for an independent investigation into the environmental, health and social impacts of Mossmorran’sย operations.

Mossmorran Action Group chair James Glen told DeSmog the organisation โ€œhas been calling for a full independent investigation since the bout of extreme emergency flaring two yearsย ago.โ€

โ€œWe have seen SEPA up its game a bit, but little real progress has been made in either establishing the impacts of the plant or finding ways to mitigate them. There has been no progress at all in providing residents with any kind of redress over what they are forced toย endure.โ€

โ€œIt’s time for everyone – from Fife Council to the Scottish Government – to take the bull by the horns and establish once and for all exactly how Mossmorran is affecting localย communities.โ€

Community engagementย 

Stuart Neill, the External Affairs Manager for ExxonMobil Chemical said the company did โ€œwant to actively engage with public and stakeholders regarding the recent unplanned flaringโ€ but refused a meeting with the group citing a calendar clash. He invited community representatives instead to have a Q&A with ExxonMobilย staff.

Campaigners said they were upset by ExxonMobilโ€™s response, with Mossmorran Action Group issuingย a statementย saying:

โ€œWe are absolutely scunnered by Shell’s response.ย We have invited them to a public meeting together with our MP, MSPs, representatives from SEPA and other regulatory bodies to respond to unprecedented public concern about the worstย bout of emergency flaring and most acute emissions in the plant’s history. Yet despite having thousands of employees and three weeks’ notice, Shell can’t attend because of โ€˜long-standing business commitmentsโ€™ย elsewhere.โ€

โ€œThere could be no clearer statement of their total lack of commitment to Fife and to the communities who have been hosting their operations forย decades.โ€

Regulatoryย failures

SEPA have never used their full legal powers against ExonnMobil for operational failures and environmental damage because it judged that the operator was putting in place robust techniques for preventing emissions and impacts on theย environment.

But local campaigners feel that SEPA should waste no time in using the full legal powers at its disposal to hold ExonnMobil to account. They are calling for permanent time-based air quality monitors and an independent study of the health and social impacts of the Mossmorran complex. Mossmoran Action Groupโ€™s Glen toldย DeSmog:

โ€œThe recent 6-day long period of emissions from the plant – longer, nastier and more extended in its pollution, noise and light impacts – has left thousands of people asking questions and demanding answers. SEPA only turns up when the flaring is underway and then takes a snapshot of very limited impacts – noise and some emissions – in a couple of places because its overriding interest is to check Mossmorran’s compliance with regulatoryย conditions.โ€

โ€œNo one is measuring the wider, ongoing picture with all the emissions from Mossmorran and how they are affecting the environment and people’sย lives.โ€

Image:ย HeavensAbove7ย 

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