Northern Ireland (NI) has introduced new Regulations under the Water Framework Directive to control oil storage.

The Regulations - operational from 20 March 2011 - apply to the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors including waste oil storage facilities and to companies who refine or distribute oil. They introduce similar requirements to those already in place in the rest of the UK.

Introducing the Regulations, Environment Minister Edwin Poots said:

“There are approximately 220 oil-related pollution incidents in Northern Ireland each year and the environmental damage caused can be significant and very expensive to remedy. Even a small amount of oil can cause a great deal of harm because of the way in which it spreads and it can make water totally unsuitable for drinking, recreational purposes, industrial and agricultural uses. ”

He added: “These Regulations set minimum design standards for above ground oil storage facilities and provide a legal requirement for the standards to be met.”

A key requirement of the Regulations is for the storage container to have a secondary containment system for any leaking or spilt oil.

The Minister added: “The Regulations will allow the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to act to prevent water pollution rather than to treat oil pollution incidents after the damage has been done.”

The Water Framework Directive requires that for diffuse sources liable to cause pollution, measures are put in place to prevent or control the input of pollutants. commitment to make these Regulations.

The NI Regulations are similar to measures already in place in England under the Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) (England) Regulations 2001 - the Environment Agency recently updated its Guidance on the Regulations. In Scotland the Regulations are enacted as a General Binding Rule under the Water Environment (Oil Storage) Scotland Regulations 2006.

In April 2010 the Environment Agency in England was given the power to apply ‘civil sanctions’ to certain regulations it enforces under the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 (including the OSR England). The Agency can use the following civil sanctions for a breach of of the OSR:

• fixed monetary penalty
• variable monetary penalty
• restoration notice
• stop notice
• enforcement undertaking.

The Environment Agency will shortly publish new guidance on how it will use the civil sanctions on its web site and expects use of the civil sanctions to start at the end of 2010.

.,