Recent cases have highlighted the penalties operators can face if
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they fail to observe environmental legislation, particularly with regards to illegal dumping of waste materials or pollution of rivers or streams.
In May the Environment Agency (EA) successfully prosecuted nine haulage companies and individuals involved in dumping construction and demolition waste at a designated area of natural beauty in Kent in 2008. Fines totalling £74250 were imposed on the offenders.
The defendants, who had failed to notify the Highways Agency about it. pleaded guilty to charges under the 1990 Environment Protection Act.
Last month, in another EA prosecution. Nicholson's Transport of Billingham,Teesside, and a driver, each pleaded guilty to a charge of causing liquid wood preservative and toxic chemical Wolmanit CX 8 to enter a tributary in Sedgefield. County Durham, in June 2009.
The firm was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay EA costs of £1,875. while driver Nigel Draper was fined 000 plus £330 costs.
The Environmental Damage Regulations 2009 now force polluters to prevent and remedy environmental damage they have caused the "polluter pays" principle.
Serious damage However, the government says the rules are mainly used for the most serious cases of damage only.
The principle is that if you or your business carry out an activity that causes environmental damage, you will have to remedy that.
If there is a risk of harm from your business activities, you must prevent such damage occurring.
Under the regulations, environmental damage is:
• serious damage to surface or ground water; • contamination of land where there is a significant risk to human health; • serious damage to EU-protected natural habitats and species or damage to sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) or areas of special scientific interest (ASSIs) in Northern Ireland.
The legislation affects hauliers involved in sectors such as manufacturing, construction and demolition, waste management and forestry.
Liam Northfield, FTA media relations manager, says: "Broadly speaking, good transport operators will always be aware of their environmental obligations when it comes to disposing of waste, whether they are general operators or disposal companies.
-We are happy with the current legislation as it does not penalise responsible companies and we would not be in favour of any sort of legislative relaxation."
If a haulage firm has threatened to cause, or has caused, environmental damage it must • take steps to prevent the damage (or further damage) occurring; ft inform the EA or other authorities who will say what the company must do to prevent and/or remedy the damage;
• if the EA has to remedy the damage, the firm will have to pay the costs.
In England and Wales, the EA, Natural England, local councils and Environment Secretary are responsible for administering and enforcing the regulations, depending on the type of damage involved.
Responsible bodies
In Northern Ireland, the body responsible is the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (N LEA), while in Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Marine Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage look after the regulations.
If you don't comply with the law, you can be prosecuted, fined and/or imprisoned. Nick Deal, Road Haulage Association manager for logistics development, adds: "Most of the offences are spillages and companies should have systems in place to deal with these.
"The principle is the polluter pays. I don't have any issue with that and although the fines can be pretty big, they are there to restore the land." in
Websites
Environment Agency www.environment-agency,gov.uk Northern Ireland Environment Agency www.ni-environment.goviuk Scottish Natural Heritage www.snh.gov.uk Scottish Environment Protection Agency www.sepa.org.uk Marine Scotland www.scottand.gov. LA k Natural England www.naturatengland.org,uk