UK oil refinery broke toxic pollution limits dozens of times, documents reveal
Documents reveal that the Stanlow oil refinery in Cheshire, UK, breached environmental permit conditions 58 times between 2023 and 2024. The spills involved toxic chemicals released into local waterways and the Mersey Estuary.
Why it matters
The report highlights significant regulatory failures and environmental risks posed by major industrial infrastructure to local ecosystems.
Image source, Arthur Passant/Getty Images Image caption, Stanlow oil refinery in Cheshire is the second largest in the UK
One of the UK's biggest oil refineries spilled pollution into local rivers and the Mersey Estuary on dozens of occasions in 2023 and 2024, documents shared exclusively with the BBC suggest.
EET Fuels, formerly known as Essar, which runs Stanlow refinery, pleaded guilty this year to 12 charges of breaching environmental law between 2018 and 2020.
But documents obtained by investigative journalists from SourceMaterial describe other breaches from the refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, with toxic chemicals and oil regularly spilled into the waterways and even groundwater.
EET Fuels said it "takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously".
The Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed that it is investigating the breaches.
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