Scottish Power loses second SEPA round

Longannet station caught by waste incineration controls, judge rules

News, 25 May 2005

Scottish Power has lost the second part of its challenge to the Environmental Agency SEPA over the burning of dried sewage sludge pellets at its Longannet Power Station.

Last December Lord Reed in the Court of Session upheld SEPA's case that the sludge, which contains pollutants such as heavy metals, is a waste product and not a fuel and therefore subject to stricter EO pollution controls.

The power company, supported by Scottish Water which supplied the pellets, returned to court to argue that in any event Longannet was not an installation caught by the Waste Incineration (Scotland) Regulations 2003, and SEPA was therefore not entitled to issue its notice regulating the burning. Yesterday Lord Reed rejected that argument also and dismissed Scottish Power's petition for judicial review of the notice.

Lord Reed decided that Longannet was "authorised as a waste incineration installation" from December 1998 when it was first permitted by SEPA to burn the waste pellets, and therefore caught by the regulations. The description of the authorised process as a combustion process rather than an incineration process was not material.

Further, he observed, the EU directive of 2000 which the 2003 Regulations were designed to implement, aimed to close a potential loophole whereby pollution controls might be avoided if waste were burned at installations which had another primary purpose than that of a dedicated incineration plant. If Longannet were not to be treated as coming within the regulations, they would have failed to implement the directive and that conclusion should be avoided if possible.

Lord Reed's opinion can be read at http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2005CSOH67.html .