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What the report says happened at Stanlow
Stanlow refinery, in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, is operated by EET Fuels, formerly Essar. The BBC-branded report, by climate and science reporter Esme Stallard, attributes its figures and incident descriptions to Environment Agency documents. The underlying permit and regulator records are not reproduced in the surfaced report, so the details below should be understood as the report’s account of those records—not as an independent review of the files.
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The report says the Environment Agency determined that 58 permit conditions were breached in 2023 and 2024. It also says permitted levels for chemical releases were exceeded hundreds of times during those years. These are different measures: repeated readings above a permitted level do not necessarily represent separate incidents, and the 58-condition total is not a count of spills.
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The pollutants named include cyanide, benzene, sulphur dioxide and oil. According to the report’s description of the Environment Agency documents, recorded levels reached seven times the permitted level for sulphur dioxide, more than eight times for cyanide, and more than thirteen times for oil. These are selected comparisons, not a complete list of releases or a full incident-by-incident record.
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Two reported oil incidents
| Incident | What the report describes | Reported regulatory status |
|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Rainwater containing oil leaked from the site. The report also describes local complaints about a smell and follow-up indications of groundwater contamination. | The Environment Agency classified the event as significant, according to the report. Action concerning 2023 offences had not been confirmed at the time of the report. |
| 12 September 2024 | More than a tonne of oil entered Thornton Brook over 36 hours and spread to the Mersey Estuary, according to an Environment Agency report described by the BBC. | The Environment Agency later categorized the spill as a minor permit breach. A criminal investigation into the incident was reported as ongoing. |
The July 2023 leak
EET Fuels disputed the scale and extent of the reported July leak. The company told the BBC the loss was “on a low scale” and “was strictly localised to two boreholes, all well within the Stanlow site itself”. That is the operator’s account; the report also says the Environment Agency classified the event as significant and that follow-up work indicated groundwater contamination.
The September 2024 spill and response
The company reportedly took nearly two weeks to provide an estimate of the amount released, despite a 24-hour reporting requirement. The BBC characterized that delay as another breach. Regulators and other bodies organized an emergency response, including deployment of a floating barrier. Local cockle beds were closed while water quality was tested; the beds were cleared but remained closed for five weeks. Mark Taylor, chief executive of the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority North West, said the closure delayed fishers’ ability to earn income from the beds. The report says that income was later made up.
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What was reported about effects on the river and wildlife
The River Gowy and Thornton Brook connect to the Mersey Estuary, which the report describes as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), habitat for endangered species and a breeding ground for rare birds. A drone survey described in the report showed oil more than a mile downriver and brown discolouration near a reedbed. Wading birds, including red-listed dunlin, were in the area.
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Why the Environment Agency and Natural England reached different conclusions
The two regulators’ reported positions address different questions. The Environment Agency deals with the refinery’s permit compliance and was reported to be conducting a criminal investigation into the September 2024 incident. At the time of the BBC report, it had not confirmed what action it would take concerning the reported 2023 offences. The report does not establish that charges or penalties had resulted from these matters.
Natural England separately assessed the effect on the protected SSSI and dropped its investigation. It told the BBC that its assessment found the environmental impact on the SSSI was minor. The report also quotes an internal email referring to the storm overflow’s permit status and saying Natural England would take no further action. Its reported explanation was that assessing the impact on the protected site was its role, while questions about compliance with the refinery’s permit belonged to the Environment Agency. A finding of minor impact on the SSSI is therefore not the same as a finding that permit conditions were met.
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What EET Fuels says
EET Fuels said it “takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously”. It described the historical exceedances selected for the report as not representative of its current operations and said it had invested more than £24 million in wastewater infrastructure. The BBC also reported the company’s claim that the Environment Agency compliance rating improved from F in 2023 to E in 2024 as major capital projects came online. These are the company’s statements as reported; they do not settle the status of the open investigation or the eventual regulatory response.
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The reporting presents an account of repeated permit exceedances, a regulator-determined total of 58 permit-condition breaches over two years, and two oil incidents with different reported classifications. It does not provide a complete exceedance ledger or the full permit text, and it does not establish the final outcome of the 2024 criminal investigation or what enforcement action, if any, followed for 2023 offences. Those outcomes should not be inferred from the reported breach counts or from Natural England’s separate decision about the SSSI.
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