The UK maybe heading for much needed change.
Today we recieved notice that the chemical industries lobbying has failed to stop the movement towards the UK aligning with Europe whilst this would almost certainly be a win for Environmentalists and Communities like Bentham, but firms such as Angus Fire could face problems.
Whats worse is the £2,000,000 treatment train implimented by Angus Fire and hailed as "the firms biggest spend on the site, in it's history' by CEO Paul Williams, this will almost certainly cause him a headache.
The HSE who run UK REACH, released a consultation for Annex 15 which coinsided with the final day to consult over Angus Fires permit variation request with the EA.
The EA Permit variation rests on the fact (that they claim) their (Angus Fires) Treatment Train reduces PFAS polluted waters by >99%. This is claimed without releasing any pertenant testing results for the consultation.
While this is figure is contested by Cleaner Bentham's experts, there is failure to mention whether the TT is any good for a vast majority of species of PFAS that Angus uses or has used in the past.
For example the Treatment Train will not capture the smaller chains under C8 (8 carbon strings).
Within our submission to the EA we wrote "This is only effective on PFAS that current legislation focuses on and offers no potential, with changes of legislation in the near future". (permit variation consultation submission paragraph 2) Little did Paul Williams know how far the reach of May 2024's Ends Report got to....
....Right into Government.
This isn't just short sighted, it was guaranteed to happen, after a little research.
One of the pitfalls of desperately trying to save face after the truth of how long Angus Fire's management have known about the pollution happening on site and across the town.
The firms lack of maintenance to the drains and other systems nt to mention the 23 Permit breaches, which on it's own says it all.
Redundancies since 2014 (one year after buying out the firm) removing people with decades of experience and knowledge, then failing to train people properly putting them, their familes the town and contracters at further risk.
I think that 'CAG' will be the sound made when there is a need to sign a bigger cheque to get another treatment plant in, to remove the Annex 15 listed PFAS from their waste water within the next 12-14 months.
This is came after the POST group met last year to discuss PFAS and how their uses support society, and/or how damaging they are to the Environment and Human Health. This meeting came off the back of 2024s Ends Report into PFAS Pollution and how Bentham (North Yorkshire) became the most polluted town in the UK and highlighted the top 10 Most Polluted areas in the UK.
Since then North Yorkshire Council, Cumbria and Lancashire Environment Agency Yorkshire Water and the prolific polluter Angus Fire (with 23 Permit breaches since 2013), have come under scrutiny resulting in a 262 page document being put together for Cleaner Bentham by Environmental and PFAS experts.