US oil and chemical giant ExxonMobil (Irving, Texas; www.exxonmobil.com) has been slapped with a EUR 3.3m fine by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa, Stirling / UK; www.sepa.org.uk) for failing to report more than 30,000 t of climate pollution from its 830,000 t/y ethylene cracker in Fife. Several local news media report that the fine is the highest for any environmental offence committed in the UK to date.

Under the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, companies that misreport their emissions can be fined EUR 100 for every tonne missed. Sepa had imposed the fine in 2010/11, and the money paid by ExxonMobil was reportedly used by the Scottish government to boost environmental projects, including energy-efficient building. According to media reports, the US oil group said the missed emissions accounted for less than 5% of the site total. ExxonMobil said the failure to report the additional emissions was the result of incorrect mapping of routings within the facility, adding that it had reviewed all procedures at the site.

Sepa also fined other companies for failing to report greenhouse gas emissions at their facilities in Scotland, including Dow Chemical (Midland, Michigan / USA; www.dow.com), which operates an additives plant in Grangemouth, as well as FMC BioPolymer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / USA; www.fmcbiopolymer.com), a producer of specialty chemicals for the food, pharmaceutical and personal care markets, which operates a plant in Girvan. The fine slapped on Dow amounts to GBP 37,000 (about EUR 44,000). Other culprits include brewery Tennet Caledonian as well as wine and spirits manufacturer Pernod Ricard.